AEDEA CINEEEA. 



(THE GREY HERON.) 



Ardea cinerea, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 236 (1766) ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 278 (1849) ; 

 Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 110 ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 741 (1864) ; 

 Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 477 ; Von Heuglin, Orn. N.Ost-Afr. iii. p. 1053 (1873) ; Hume] 

 Str. Feath. 1873, p. 253, et 1876, p. 465, et 1879, viii. p. 112 (List of Ind. B.) ; Salva- 

 dor!, Uccelli di Borneo, p. 344 (1874) ; Legge, Ibis, 1875, p. 403 ; Hume, Nests and 

 Eggs, iii. p. 610 (1875) ; David & Oustalet, Ois. de la Chine, p. 437 (1877) ; Davison & 

 Hume, Str. Feath. 1878 (B. of Tenass.) p. 472; Dresser, B. of Eur. pt. 41, 42 (1875). 



Ardea leucoplma, Gould, P. Z. S. 1848, p. 58; id. B. of Austr. vi. (1848). 



Le Heron commun, Buffon, Hist. Nat. vii. p. 343. 



The Common Heron of European authors ; Garga real, Portuguese ; Garza, Spanish ; Fisch- 

 Reilier, German ; Blaamoe Reiger, Dutch. Bou-ank, Arabic ; Aishoush, Moorish ; 

 Kabud, Hind. ; Anjan, Sada kanka, Bengal. ; Saa, Sindh ; Narraina pachi, Telugu ; 

 Ht array an, Tamil (Jerdon); Zaplia seraya, Bussian, Central Asia (Prjevalsky) ; TJkar, 

 Turki (Scully) ; Changa-azvu, Java (Horsf.), Lou-sse, Chinese. 



Kallajma-Karawal-koka, Induru-koka, Sinhalese. 



Adult female (Ceylon). Length 38-25 inches ; wing 17'0 ; tail 7 - ; bare tibia 2-0 ; tarsus 5-6 ; middle toe 4-0, claw 

 (straight) 0-6 ; bill to gape 5-8, at front 4-5. 



Adult males (Yarkand). "Wing 18-0 to 18-2 inches ; tarsus 6-0 to 6-5 ; bill from gape 6-3 to 6-5, at front 4-85 to 5-3 ; 

 bare tibia 2-8 to 3-7 {Scully).— Females. Wing 17-7 ; tarsus 6-25 to 6-3 ; bare tibia 3-1 to 3-2 ; bill from gape 6-15 

 to 6-25, at front 4-8 to 4-85.— Females ? (China). Wing 17-0 ; tarsus 57 ; bill at front 4-6.— Female ? (Japan). 

 Wing 17-0 inches ; tarsus 6-0 ; bill at front 4-6. — Male and female (England). Wing 17-5 to 18-5 ; tail 5-0 

 to 6-5 ; tarsus 5-5 to 5-8 ; bare tibia 3'0 to 3-2; bill at front 4-5 to 4-9. (Australia: A. leucophcea) Wing 19*0; 

 bill to gape 7'0 (Gould). 



Iris golden yellow ; loral skin greenish ; bill dusky yellow ; culmen brownish ; legs and feet greenish brown, with the 

 tibia and posterior part of the tarsus greenish yellow. 



Male. Eorehead, crown, throat, face, and down the centre of the throat white, a broad black band on the sides of the 

 head, commencing just in front of the eye and passing to the occiput, where it forms a lengthened crest, the three 

 longest feathers measuring 5 or 6 inches ; neck ashy grey, tinged slightly with reddish, down the white part of the 

 throat a double row of black drop-shaped spots, commencing about 6 inches from the chin, and connecting with 

 two tufts of black " decomposed " plumes on each side of the chest, over which droop a series of long lanceolate 

 feathers, in some specimens 6 inches in length ; under surface white ; axillaries and flanks blue-grey, with a 

 broad band of black running from the chest-patches down the sides of the breast to the thighs ; back, tail, and 

 wings bluish grey ; the upper scapulars and interscapular region shaded with darker grey, and the longer scapulars 

 pale grey and very long and lanceolate ; greater wing-coverts pale blue-grey ; the point of the wing and the edge 

 above and beneath white ; primaries with their coverts and the winglet slaty black, the secondaries the same 

 near the tips, and slaty-grey towards the base ; tertials slaty grey ; shafts of the tail-feathers blackish, under 

 wing-coverts slaty. 



Female. Plumage generally duskier than in the male, the occipital crest-plumes not so lengthened, and the breast- 

 plumes not so long. 



Nestling : partly in down (Holland). The feathers, which are appearing all over the body, are black on the head, white 



