168 ARDEID^. 



faciei area lorali et oculari nuda et rostro pallide cameis, hoc versus apicem nigro ; pedibus ultramarinis ; 



iride flavicante vel albida. Long, tota 27-5, alse 13-5, caudse 4-4. culm. 4-0, tarsi 5-8. (Descr. maris 



adulti ex Punta Eassa, Florida. Mus. nostr.) 

 ? mari similis, sad plumis ornamentalibus brevioribus. Long, tota 25-5, alae 11-8. (Descr. feminse adultse 



ex Punta Rassa. Mus. nostr.) 

 Forma altera avis adulti pure alba, plumis ornamentalibus eodem modo decorata. 

 Juv. adultis similis, sed pallidior, notsei plumis rufescente marginatis j facie lateral! et corpore subtus ferru- 



gineo lavatis ; plumis ornamentalibus nullis. 



Ilah. NoETH America, Gulf States north to Southern Illinois, Lower California i^. — 

 Mkxico, rivers and lakes of both coasts ^ ^^, San Mateo ^, Tehuantepec, Ventosa ^^ is 

 (Sumichrast), Mazatlan (Grayson^), Progreso, Yucatan (Schott% Cozumel I. 

 (Gaumer^^^^); Guatemala, Chiapam {0. S.^^^), Istan (0. -S. 9).— West Indies, 

 Cuba, Jamaica ^^. 



This beautiful Heron, remarkable for its two distinct phases of rufous and white 

 plumage, has, on this account, been separated as two species, the one rufous (Ardea 

 rufa) and the other pure white (A. pealei). There can be no doubt, however, that the 

 latter is only a white phase of the former, as they both assume similar ornamental 

 plumes in the breeding-season. 



Audubon considered that the white birds were the young of the rufous form, but, 

 as Dr. Bowdler Sharpe ^ has pointed out, this cannot be the case, as our series from 

 Texas shows them both in perfect breeding-plumage, with all the ornamental feathers 

 fully developed. It has been further stated by Professor Ridgway that young birds, both 

 white and rufous, have been found in the same nest, when the parent birds have been 

 both rufous, or both white, or one rufous and the other white : so that neither age, 

 sex, nor season has anything to do with the difference in colour between the two 

 phases of plumage, which, at first sight, seems to indicate the existence of two distinct 

 species. The same author states that sometimes reddish specimens with an admixture 

 of white are found. We ourselves procured such an example at Chiapam in Guatemala, 

 and there are others in the British Museum. 



This species inhabits the Gulf States of North America during the summer, ranging 

 as far north as Southern Illinois. It is also found in Lower California, and on 

 both coasts of Mexico, being resident at Mazatlan, where, however, according to 

 Grayson, it is not very abundant. In Guatemala, where the bird is probably only a 

 winter visitant, we met with it on the muddy flats surrounding the salt-pools at 

 Chiapam, the reddish form decidedly predominating in point of numbers. 



Mr. Underwood does not include it in the list he sent us of the birds of Costa 

 Rica. 



In habits this Heron resembles others of its race, but seems to be more exclusively 

 a salt-water loving species, frequenting principally the shallow flats near the sea. The 

 food consists of small fishes and frogs, insects, &c., but, according to Mr. N. B. Moore's 



