374 LITTLE EGRET. 
latter. It is tolerably abundant in suitable localities in the 
Spanish Peninsula, Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and generally 
throughout the Mediterranean region. The northern limit of its 
breeding-range appears to be in the wooded swamps of Slavonia, 
where Mr. W. E. Clarke found it nesting towards the end of May 
1883 on the Obedska ‘bara,’ a marsh on the river Save, not far 
from Semlin. In the same year Messrs. Seebohm and Young found 
it breeding in colonies on the Lower Danube ; and it is common 
during the summer in Turkey and Southern Russia. Across Asia it 
is distributed as far east as China and Japan; in India and Ceylon 
it is resident ; it visits the Philippines and Malayasia; and a near 
ally ranges from Java to Australia. To the west, it occurs in the 
Azores and Canaries, and breeds in the Cape Verde Islands ; while 
in Africa it is found as far as Cape Colony. Its representative in 
the warmer districts of America is 4. candidissima, distinguishable 
by the large bunch of occipital feathers and by the yellow basal 
portion of the bill. 
The nests of the Little Egret are usually placed in bushes and 
trees, in company with those of other swamp-loving species ; the 
material consisting of sticks and a few reeds, on which are deposited 
the 3-6 eggs, of a pale bluish-green, somewhat pointed at both ends: 
averaging 1°75 by 1°25 in. In Andalucia Mr. R. B. Lodge found 
them on May sth. Dr. H. Gadow shot examples of this bird on 
April 17th 1884, round an isolated rock on the south coast of Por- 
tugal, on the inaccessible summit of which it appeared to be 
breeding, in company with some Gulls; and Mr. Boyd Alexander 
took its eggs from nests made of acacia twigs on May roth, 
on ledges or in recesses of sea-cliffs, in the Cape Verde Islands. 
The note of alarm or defiance resembles the syllables a4, ark, and 
ork. The food consists of small fishes, aquatic insects, frogs and 
worms. 
The adult in spring and summer has the beak black ; lores 
lavender ; irides varying from yellow to pale lavender; the entire 
plumage pure white ; on the nape two long narrow feathers ; some 
lanceolate plumes at the bottom of the neck in front ; dorsal plumes 
greatly lengthened and filamentous ; legs mostly black, with yellowish 
spots on the toes; claws black. For some time after the 
autumn moult the dorsal and occipital plumes are absent, and 
the legs and feet are nearly black. Length to end of tail 21 in. 
(bill 4 in.); wing r1°25in. Mr. J. H. Gurney says that the plumes 
are sometimes as much developed in the females as in the males. 
Young birds have a greyish tinge, and no elongated plumes. 
