AKDEID^ AEtlEA 63 



band, the chin and throat being white ; general colour of the body 

 slaty, many of the feathers of the scapulars elongated and tinged 

 with rufous ; primaries and their coverts very dark slate, almost 

 black, edge of the wing pale rufous ; feathers of the lower neck and 

 upper breast very pale rufous, strongly striped with black ; lower 

 breast dark maroon, becoming almost black on the abdomen and 

 under tail-coverts ; thighs pale rufous ; sides of the body, axillaries 

 and quills below slaty ; under wing coverts rich rufous. 



Iris yellow ; upper mandible brown, yellowish at the base ; 

 lower mandible brownish horn, yellow towards the tip ; legs dark 

 brown in front, chrome yellow behind. Length about 35 ; wing 

 14-5 ; tail 5-5 ; tarsus 4-6 ; middle toe 4-9 ; culmen 4'9. 



The female resembles the male but is not so brightly coloured; 

 the nuchal plumes also are not so long or so well developed. 

 Young birds have the crown maroon and only the forehead slaty 

 black ; there are no distinct lines of black on the neck, only 

 a slight mottling of that colour ; there is a good deal of sandy-buff 

 on the back, the lower throat and fore neck are less distinctly 

 marked with black, and the rest of the lower surface is huffy-white 

 streaked with dusky ; bill yellow, blackish along the culmen ; tarsi 

 and feet greenish-yellow. 



Distribution. — • The Purple Heron has a wide distribution 

 throughout central and southern Europe, from France to Turkestan 

 and Persia, east of which it is replaced by a closely allied species. 

 To the south the European bird is found throughout the whole of 

 Africa, including Madagascar. 



Within our limits the Purple Heron seems fairly plentiful 

 everywhere, where suitable conditions exist, though perhaps it is 

 not so abundant in Natal and the eastern half of the Colony as in 

 the west. It breeds in South Africa, and is, I believe, a resident. 



The following are the chief recorded localities : Gape Colony — 

 Cape div. December (W. L. Sclater), Berg Eiver, breeding September 

 (Layard), Orange Eiver (Bradshaw), Worcester, November (S. A. 

 Mus.), Port Elizabeth, fairly common (Brown), King William's 

 Town, rare (Trevelyan), Port St. John's, not common (Shortridge) ; 

 Natal — Durban Bay (Woodward), Upper Buffalo Eiver (Butler) ; 

 Orange Eiver Colony — Vredefort Eoad (B. Hamilton) ; Transvaal — 

 Potchefstroom, June, Augusb (Ayres), near Johannesburg, common 

 (Haagner) ; Bechuanaland — Lake Ngami (Andersson) ; Ehodesia — 

 Upper Zambesi (Holub), near Salisbury (Marshall) ; Portuguese 

 East Africa — Chicowa, September (Alexander) and Tete (Kirk) on 

 the Zambesi. 



