BIRDS — AKDEIDAE — ^AEDEA WUKDEMANNII. 



669 



List of specimens. 



AEDEA WURDEMANNII, Baird. 

 florida Heron. 



Sp . Ch . — Lower half of tibia bare . Above bluish ash . Edge of wing and the tibiae rufous . 

 with black and rufous . N«ck ash-colored . Head white, with a patch in the forehead black . 



on the sides of breast and belJy streaked with black. Length about 49.00 ; wing, S 

 .ffafe.— South Florida. 



Middle of throat white, streaked 

 Under parts white ; the feathers 

 1.75; tarsus, 8.00 (or more) ; bill above, 6.50. 



Tarsi elongated. Tibia bare for half its length. Middle toe not one-third the tarsus. 

 External fornix otherwise, as in A. herodias. 



Bill in the dried specimen greenish yellow ; dusky above. Entire head all round, including 

 the occipital crest, snowy white ; the elongated feathers apparently not fully grown, but also 

 white. Feathers of the forehead margined laterally with black. Neck ash color, with a shade 

 of violet. The feathers of the middle line of the throat white, and streaked with dark plumbeous 

 from a point distant the length of the culmen from the base of the bill. These feathers on the 

 throat, likewise, have a wash of rufous. The upper parts generally are bluish gray, the elonga- 

 ted sqapulars much paler. The under parts generally are white ; the feathers on the sides of 

 the breast are bluish black, streaked centrally with white ; those of the sides of the body streaked 

 on one side with the same. The sides of the body are like the back. The edge of the wing 

 and' the tibiae are purplish rufous, with a violet shade ; the portion of the former from the 

 carpal joint to the quills, nearly white, with spots of the rufous. The greater coverts near the 

 edge of the wing are streaked obscurely with whitish, and tinged with rufous. The primaries 

 are dark hoary blackish plumbeous ; the outer secondaries still darker, but becoming lighter 

 towards the back. 



This species is somewhat similar to the A. herodias, but is much larger ; the bill and tarsus 

 at least an inch longer. The tibia is bare for a greater distance. The head is entirely white, 

 with the forehead streaked with black, exactly the reverse of the other, which has the head black 



