AIUIEA. 191 



Order ARDEIFORMES. 



Suborder ABDEJE. 



Family ARDEIDiE. 



Genus ARDEA Linncens, Svst. Nat. 1758, p. 141. 



Type : A. rinerea Linn. 



Ardm = the Heron, in Virgil, Georg. i. 364 ; cognate with the classical 

 Greek fnw^iop, of which the supposed primitive form, pwdios, occiirs in 

 Hipponax (about 546 B.C.). 



Ardea cinerea. Heeox. 



Ardea cinerea Linnceus, Syst. Niit. 1758, p. 143: Sweden. 



Ardea cinerea Linn. ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds JB. M. xxvi. 1898, p. 74 ; 

 B. O. U. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 107; Saunders, Manual, 

 2nd ed. 1899, p. 367. 



Cmerea=ash-coloured, from ('i)us=ashes. 



Distribution in the British Islands. — A Besident, generally 

 distributed and collecting into colonies during tbe breeding- 

 season. 



General Distribution. — The Heron breeds throughout the 

 greater part of Europe and Asia from about 60° N. latitude 

 southwards ; also in both northern and southern Africa, and 

 probably in most parts of that continent as well as in Mada- 

 gascar. From the northern parts of its range it is migraiory, 

 and has been recorded from the Malay Islands and Australia. 

 It has occurred in south Greenland, Iceland, and the Faeroes. 



Ardea purpurea. Purple Heeon. 



Ardea purpurea Linnwus, Syst. Nat. 12fh ed. i. 17GG, 

 p. 236 : France. 



Ardea purpurea Linn. ; B. 0. IT. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 108 ; 



Saunders, Manual, 2nd ed. 1899, p. 369. 

 Phoyx purpurea SJiarpe, Cat. Birds B. M. xxvi. 1898, p. 60. 



Pin'pifren =purple. 



