58 AKDEIDiE ARDBA 



the male was on the nest, which contained three fresh eggs. Mr. 

 Austen Eoberts, of Potchefstroom, has recently sent a clutch of 

 three eggs of this Heron to the South African Museum ; these were 

 taken at Kromdraai, on the Vaal Eiver, near Potchefstroom, on 

 October 3rd. In this case the nest, a photograph of which is here 

 reproduced (Fig. 17), was built on the branch of a tall thorn. tree 

 overhanging the river about fifty feet above the ground, and was 

 flat and composed of sticks throughout. 



The eggs, which are oval and nearly equally rounded at 

 both ends, are pale blue, without any markings, and measure 

 2-80 X 20. 



586. Ardea cinerea. Grey Heron. 



Ardea cinerea, Linn., Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 236 (1766) ; Gfiil, K. 

 Vet. Ahad. HanrU. ii, no. 10, p. 55 (1858) ; Gurneij, Ibis, 1859, p. 248, 

 1860, p. 205 [Natal] ; Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 306 (1867) ; id. Ibis, 

 1869, p. 376; Giimey, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 284(1872); 

 BucUey, Ibis, 1874, p. 390 ; Shelley, Ibis, 1875, p. 86 ; Dresser, B. 

 Eur., vi, p. 207, pi. 395 (1875) ; Ayres, Ibis, 1877, p. 349 ; Holub §- 

 Pelz., Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 261 (1882) ; Butler, Feilden ^' Beid, Zool. 

 1882, p. 348 ; Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. p. 708 (1884) ; 

 Symonds, Ibis, 1887, p. 335; FlecJt, -lourn. Ornitli. 1894, p. 387; 

 Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 1.37 (1896) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 74 

 (1898) ; Woodward Bros., Natal B. p. 195 (1899) ; Marshall, Ibis, 

 1900, . 266 ; Beichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 379 (1901) ; Sharpe, Ibis 

 1904, p. 17 [Deelfontein] ; Shortridge, Ibis, 1904, p. 205. 



Description. Adult male. — Crown and forehead, face and neck 

 all round, including the drooping plumes at the base of the neck, 

 white ; a broad black patch from behind the eye meets its fellow 

 on the other side and separates the crown from the face ; this patch 

 ends in a nape crest and has two much elongated nuchal plumes ; 

 along the front of the neck for its lower two-thirds is a double series 

 of elongate black patches ; general colour above pale pearly-slate, 

 becoming almost white on the decomposed and elongated scapulars, 

 and also on the wing-coverts ; wing-quills and primary coverts dark 

 slate ; edge of the wing white ; tail like the back ; on each side 

 of the breast a patch of drooping purpHsh black feathers, con- 

 tinued back to about the vent, centre of the breast, abdomen, 

 under tail-coverts and thighs white ; sides of the body, axillaries 

 and under wing-coverts pearly-slate. 



