AEDEA PURPUREA. 



(THE PURPLE HERON.) 



Anlea purpurea, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 236 (17GG) ; Blytli, Gat. B. Mas. A. S. B. p. 278 



(1849); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv.' p. 110; Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. 



p. 743 (1864); Layard, B. of S. Afr. p. 306 (1867); Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 477; 



Heuglin, Orn. N. Ost-Afr. ii. p. 1051 (1873) ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1878 (B. of Tenass.), 



p. 472, et 1879 (List B. of lnd.), p. 114 ; Salvadori, Uccelli di Born. p. 345 (1874) ; 



Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 30, et 1875, p. 403 ; id. J. A. S. (Ceylon Branch), p. 55 (1875); 



Hume, Nests and Eggs, iii. p. 611 (1875); Dresser, B. of Eur. pt. 43, 44 (1875); David 



& Oust. Ois. de la Chine, p. 438 (1877). 

 Garga, Portuguese ; purper Beiger, roode Beiger, Dutch. Nari, Hind. ; Lal-kank, in Bengal ; 



Changa ulu, Java (Horsf.); Balakokan, Borneo ; Pamala nari gadu, Tamil; Sanitary, 



Tamil. 

 h'</rawal-koka, Sinhalese. 



Adult male and female (Ceylon). Length 38-0 to 39-0 inches ; wing 1-4-5 to 14-8, expanse 55-3; tail 5-0 to 5-5; 

 tarsus o-2 to 5'5 ; bare tibia 3-5 ; middle toe (with claw) 5-0 to 5-5 ; hind toe (with claw) 3-5; bill to gape 6-1 

 to 6-2, at front 5-0 to 5-1: weight 2|lbs. (India) Length 36-0 to 42-0; wing 15-5, expanse 5S"0 ; tail 5-75 ; 

 bill at front 5-39 ; tarsus 5-25 ; middle toe 5-5 (Jerdon, who states that some birds are much smaller). — Male 

 (England, Brit. Mus.). Wing 14-6 ; tail 5-5 ; tarsus 4-9 ; middle toe 4-3 ; bill at front 4 - 9. — Female. Wing 

 14-0 ; tarsus 4-3 ; bill at front 4-3. — Male (Java). Wing 14-3 ; tarsus 5'0 ; middle toe 4-3 ; bill at front 4-9. 



Note. This Heron is remarkable for the great length of its toes. 



I ris pale clear yellow, gamboge-yellow in some ; loral skin and base of lower mandible yellowish green ; upper mandible 

 dusky yellowish brown, with the margin yellowish ; lower mandible yellowish ; tibia and inner edge of tarsus with 

 the soles citron-yellow, rest of tarsus and feet wood-brown. 



Adult female (Ceylon, February). Head, nape, with crest of several long feathers glossy black, passing down the hind 

 neck in a stripe for about half its length ; a black streak from the gape beneath the eye passing over the ears and 

 joining the black of the nape ; another black stripe passing from the cheeks down the side of the neck to the 

 elongated neck-plumes, and a pure black streak down the fore neck; lower part of hind neck, back, and wing- 

 coverts bluish slate, tinged with greenish brown on the interscapulary region ; upper scapulars with the webs open 

 and elongated, the terminal portion cinnamon-red ; primaries and their coverts, as also the winglet, blackish slate: 

 secondaries paler ; tail dark slate ; chin and upper part of throat white ; face, sides of neck, fore neck between 

 the stripes, and many of the feathers of the lower neck-plumes cinnamon-rufous, palest above the eye, leaving a 

 white streak next the black cap ; the longer feathers of the neck-plumes white, striped with black in continuation 

 of the neck-feathers ; sides of the chest and breast dull maroon-red ; centre of the breast, the abdomen, and under 

 tail-coverts blackish slate tinged with ashy ; thighs light ferruginous ; flanks and axillaries bluish slate ; under 

 wing, together with the point and edge along the ulna, light ferruginous. 



In a male (December) the occipital feathers are longer and the scapulars are purplish and ashy red, being more richly 

 coloured than in the above female ; the sides of the head behind the eye are white and not tinged with rufous. 



Young, on leaving the nest (Female, Kodiyam Kulam). Wing 11-0 inches (quills not grown) ; tail 4-0 ; tarsus 4-5; 

 middle toe 4-0 ; bill at front 3 - 7, blunt at tip, the gonys only 1-0 in length. 



his bright clear yellow ; orbital skin yellowish green ; upper mandible dark brown, with a yellow line running forward 

 from the eye ; under mandible saffron-yellow ; tibia and knee greenish yellow ; tarsus and toes in front olive- 

 brown, posteriorly yellowish. 



Crown and nape black ; sides of the head and upper part of the neck rich glossy cinnamon-rufous, changing gradually 

 into slaty brown on the hind neck, and thence into glossy green-brown on the back, scapulars, and wing-coverts, 



