Genus AEDEA. 



Bill long and pointed, the culmen nearly straight ; the gonys well defined and one third the 

 length of the bill from the gape ; naral groove pronounced ; loral region bare. Wings 

 lengthened ; the 2nd and 3rd quills subequal and longest, the 1st less than the 4th ; inner webs 

 of quills notched. Tail short. Legs very long ; tibia naked far above the knee; tarsal scales 

 broad and transverse, but angulated at the sides ; toes lengthened, inner toe considerably shorter 

 than the outer ; the web between the outer and middle toe well developed ; claws curved, the 

 middle finely pectinated. 



Head crested; scapulars elongated, but not "decomposed;" lower neck-feathers in front 



elongated. 



ARDEA GOLIATH. 



(THE GIANT HERON.) 



Ardea goliat (Temm.*), Riippell, Atlas Reise nordl. Afr., Vogel, pi. 26 (1826) ; Temm. PL Col. 



v. pi. 474, 80 e livraison (1829) ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 278 (1849) ; Jerdon, B. 



of Ind. Hi. p. 739 (1864); Von Heuglin, Orn. N.Ost-Afr. ii. p. 1048 (1873); Hume, 



Str. Feath. 1878, vii. p. 490, et 1879, p. 114 (List B. of Ind.). 

 Ardea nobilis, Blyth, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. xiii. p. 175 (1844). 

 Riesenreiher, German ; El mireh, Arabic. 



Note. The bill is slightly curved upwards in this species. 



Adult female (Kirinde, Ceylon). Length 53-0 inches ; wing 22-0 ; tail 9-5; bare tibia 5-75 ; tarsus 9 -0 ; middle toe 

 6-0; hind toe 5-3; bill to gape 9-0, at front 7 - 35 : weight 10 lbs. (Bliyh, in epist.). — Adult. (India, Ind. Mus.) 

 Wing 24-0; tail 9-0; tarsus 9'5 ; bare tibia 5-0; middle toe 5-8; bill to gape 9-7, at front 8"1. (N.E. Africa) 

 Length 49-32 to 52-41 ; wiug 20-5 to 21-0 ; tail 8-0 ; bare tibia 5-0 to 5-75 ; tarsus 8-0 to 9-0 ; bill at front 

 6-57 to 7-42. 



Adult (living, Zoological Gardens). Iris yellow, with a reddish margin ; bill dark slaty, under mandible fleshy, with a 

 dark margin ; legs and feet dark slaty blackish, edges of scutes whitish ; eyelid pale slaty. 



(India Mus.) Head (and crest 4| inches in leugth) cinnamon-reddish ; forehead and lores slaty ; hind neck and sides of 

 neck paler cinnamon than the head; upper surface and wiugs slaty bluish ; basal portion of wing-covert feathers 

 rusty red ; greater coverts tinged with reddish ; primary shafts blackish ; tail slaty bluish ; chin and upper throat 

 white ; fore neck down the centre slaty black and white, the feathers tinged with rufous, the central feathers are 

 white, with slaty black edges ; elongated feathers of the lower neck white tinged with rufescent, with slaty brown 

 lateral stripes ; feathers of the chest, breast, and underparts dusky cinnamon-rufous, many of the feathers whitish 

 at the edges ; the tufts at the side of the chest darker than the rest ; under wing dusky cinnamon-rufous, the 

 edge whitish ; thighs reddish, tipped with slaty ; under tail-coverts reddish ashy. 



An African specimen, now living in the Zoological Gardens, from which the description of the soft parts is taken, 



e Temminck's description (SOth livraison PI. Col.) to accompany his figure of this species (pi. 474), and at the head of 

 which he bestowed his title of goliat, was not published until 1S29, as will be seen by reference to the dates of publi- 

 cation of the different livraisons. At the end of the article he remarks that an account of another specimen is to be 

 published ("sera puhlie") by Herr Eiippell; and this appeared, if we are to place any dependence on dates, in 1826, three 

 years prior to Temminck's description. I conclude that the latter author communicated to Eiippell the name he had 

 applied to the species, and that the German made use of it. Be this as it may, Eiippell's account was first published. 



