248 



more correctly represents the feeling on the point, although it is a hopeless task to make an 

 Arab understand any thing of an abstract nature. 



" During the winter the plumage of the Buff-backed Heron is of a creamy-white colour, 

 with a small reddish-buff patch on the top of the head, the legs and feet being black. About 

 the commencement of April longer feathers, of a pale buff, begin to appear on the back, neck, 

 and crest (the rest of the plumage remaining in statu quo). 



" These continue to grow in length and deepen in colour until the end of May, by which 

 time the summer dress is complete. At the same time the legs and feet change to a pale 

 yellowish olive. The bill at all times is of an ochraceous yellow ; and the irides vary in different 

 specimens (probably according to age) from pale to bright yellow. The lore is greenish. The male 

 is generally rather larger than the female, and the long feathers are a little more developed." 



In Algeria the Buff-backed Heron is resident and numerous. Mr. Salvin, who first met 

 with it near Bizerta, and afterwards at Zana, says that it is very local, though abundant in the 

 localities it inhabits. Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., only once saw it in the Sahara ; but at Oued el 

 Alleg he noticed upwards of forty feeding amongst the cattle ; Mr. A. von Homeyer observed many 

 on Lake Halloula, where he was told that they breed in colonies ; and Mr. Taczanowski saw one 

 near Lake Fezzara in December. Around Tangier, Favier remarks, " it is the commonest of the 

 Herons, and keeps in small flocks, always following herds of cattle, often sitting on their backs, 

 and chiefly feeding on insects. A small proportion remain during the breeding-season; but the 

 majority pass northwards in February, March, and April, returning late in the year." It is said 

 to have occurred in Madeira, and is distributed in Africa down to the Cape colony. There are 

 examples in the Leyden Museum from Senegal and the Gold Coast ; M. Jules Verreaux states 

 that it occurs on the Orange River; and Mr. Andersson says (B. of Damara L. p. 288) that it 

 is exceedingly numerous in Ondonga. Mr. E. L. Layard (B. of S. Afr. p. 307) writes that two 

 in non-breeding dress have been received from Mr. Arnot, and there were several examples in 

 a collection made by Mr. Chapmen on the Zambesi. Mr. Ayres obtained it both in breeding- 

 and non-breeding-dress in Natal, and also met with it in the Transvaal ; and Mr. Barratt writes 

 (Ibis, 1876, p. 211) : — " I shot a fine male of this species in a fiock which were hopping about 

 under some oxen, from which they were picking off the ticks. I have obtained them close to 

 Lydenburg and Potchefstroom, and I have seen them near Pretoria, Rustenberg, and near the 

 Vaal river. They congregate in flocks, standing on one leg basking in the sun." In Madagascar 

 the Buff-backed Heron appears to be common, and is probably resident. Mr. S. Roch obtained 

 one at Antananarivo in October, and he saw several at Farafata ; and, speaking of it again under 

 the name of Ardea ruficristata, he adds that it is " very common in the neighbourhood of 

 Tamatave. We almost daily observed flocks of white Egrets on our journey up the country, 

 even as far as the Mangouron, more than one hundred miles from the coast ; they were in con- 

 stant attendance on herds of cattle, from whose skins they would dexterously pick off the ticks 

 and carapats. I also observed that, whenever the natives burnt brushwood or grass-land, these 

 birds collected in numbers in the very smoke, to catch any insects that were thus driven from 

 their resting-places." 



Mr. Edward Newton, who also met with this Heron in Madagascar, writes (Ibis, 1863, 

 p. 456) as follows : — " These birds, I was told, never breed elsewhere than on the small coral 



