128 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 
tipped with rufous; wing about 4.85, culmen 2.00. Hab. Southern South 
America. 
B. involucris (VIEILL.), Azara’s Least Bittern! 
Genus ARDEA Linnavs. (Page 126, pls. XXXIV. to XXXVI) 
Species. 
(West of coarse sticks, placed usually in trees. Eggs plain bluish green, vary- 
ing in depth of color.) 
a’. Culmen decidedly shorter than tarsus, the latter more than one and a half times 
as long as the middle toe (without claw). 
b*. Tarsus much less than twice as long as middle toe (without claw). 
c. Wing more than 13.00. 
d'. Wing more than 17.00. Adult with scapular plumes narrowly 
lanceolate, with compact webs; head crested, the occiput 
during pairing season with two or more long, slender, com- 
pactly webbed plumes; plumes of lower neck stiffened, nar- 
rowly lanceolate, or acicular. (Subgenus Ardea.) 
é'. Color entirely pure white; length 45.00-54.00, wing 17.00- 
21.00, culmen 6.00-7.00, tarsus 8.00-8.75. Hggs 2.60 X 
1.84. Hab. Southern Florida (chiefly on eastern side?) ; 
Cuba; Jamaica ? 
192. A. occidentalis Aup. Great White Heron. 
e. Color nearly uniform bluish gray above, lower parts striped 
with black and white. 
ji. Thighs and edge of wing cinnamon-rufous. 
g. Lower parts white, narrowly striped or streaked with 
black ; tarsus more than 8.50; legs and feet olive 
in adult. 
hi. Adult with head entirely white, the forehead 
streaked with blackish. Young: Forehead 
and crown dull slate-color, narrowly streaked 
with white; feathers of occiput white with 
dusky tips; wing-coverts spotted with rusty, 
the lower and more posterior with large 
wedge-shaped white spots. Length 48.00~ 
50.00, wing 20.00-21.00, culmen 5.95-6.50, 
tarsus 7.95-8.25. Eggs about 2.60 x 1.84. 
Hab. Florida Keys and Cape Florida; Ja- 
maica?; accidental in southern Illinois (Mount 
Carmel, Sept. 11-22, 1876)... —. A. wuerde- 
(12.) manni Barrp. Wirdemann’s Heron.’ 
h?. Adult with occiput and sides of crown black (as 
1 Ardea involucris Viniiu., Enc. Méth. 1823, 1127. Ardetta involucris Scu. & Satv., P. Z. 8. 1869, 634, 
