100 VISCOUNT "WALDEN ON THE BIEDS OF CELEBES. 



Demiegretta, Blyth. 



174. Demiegretta sacea (Gm.), Syst. Nat. ed. 13, i. p. 640, ex Latham. 



Hab. Menado (mus. nostr.). 



Two examples of an Ashy Egret were received from Menado in the dark ashy phase, 

 but wanting the crest, dorsal trains, and pectoral plumes of the breeding-plumage. 

 Both have a narrow median white line commencing at the chin and descending, with 

 broken intervals, down the throat. No other part of the plumage is white. The wing 

 measures 10^ inches ; the bill, from the forehead, 3 inches ; the tarsus 2f inches ; 

 middle toe, without the nail, If inch. The dimensions of the bill, tarsus, and middle 

 toe are much less than those given by Dr. Jerdon of .the Indian bird, D. asha (Sykes). 



Dr. O. Finsch (Centralpolyn. p. 201) has united all the titles given to the numerous 

 named local races of this species under Gmelin's title of sacra, bestowed by him on the 

 Sacred Heron of Latham, brought by Sir J. Banks from Otaheite. A want of a suf- 

 ficient number of examples prevents me from questioning the correctness of this 

 deduction, and I therefore provisionally adopt Gmelin's title. For an elaborate essay 

 on the species, conf. Finsch & Hartl. I. c. 



Nycticorax, Stephens. 



175. Ntcticoeax griseus (Linn.), Syst. Nat. ed. 12, i. p. 239 (1766); Schlegel, Mus. Pays- 



Bas, Ardece, p. 58. 



Hab. Gorontalo (Forsten) ; Europe, Africa, Asia, America (Ardea gardeni, Gm.). 



176. Nycticorax caledonicus (Gm.), Syst. Nat. ed. 13, i. p. 626, "Nova Caledonia" 



(1788), ex Lath. Syn. iii. p. 55 ; Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, Ardece, p. 59. 



Ardea maculata, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp. p. lxiv (1801), "New Holland," fide Strickl. Ann. Nat. 

 Hist. xi. p. 338, av.juv. 



Hab. Macassar (S. Mutter) ; Tondano (Forsten) ; Timor, Gilolo, Morty Island, Am- 

 boyna (Mus. Lugd.) ; New Caledonia (type) ; Australia ( Gould) ; Cape York (mus. nostr.). 



Ardea caledonica, Forster, apud Meyen (N. Act. Ac. C. L. C. xvi. Suppl. prim. p. 103), 

 seems to be Nycticorax manilensis, Vigors ; and I have therefore omitted the Philippines 

 from the range of Gmelin's species. 



Butorides, Blyth. 



177. Butorides javanica (Horsf), Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 190, "Java" (1822); 



Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, Ardece, p. 44. 



Hab. Gorontalo (Forsten) ; Menado (mus. nostr.). 



The range of this Heron cannot be accurately stated until its conspecies have been 

 studied and defined. Conf. Finsch & Hartl. Faun. Centralpolynes. p. 207, by whom, 

 however, no specific differences are admitted to exist. My Menado example is in full 



