ARDEIDAE 9 1 



America, is blue-grey with white on the forehead and neck ; the 

 head, crest, and flanks being black, and the belly cinnamon. 

 C. zclcdoni of Central America differs in its reddish fore-neck. 



Ardea, another world-wide genus, may be subdivided as below if 

 desired,^ but the supposed generic characters are hardly satisfactory. 

 A. {Buphus) hubidcus, the Buff-backed Heron of South Europe, 

 Africa, and Asia, to the Caspian, is white, with bufl" crown and 

 nape, and elongated occipital, scapular, and jugular plumes of the 

 same colour, developed in the breeding season ; A. coromanda, 

 with orange head, neck, and scapulars,* replacing it from the Cas- 

 pian eastward and reaching Japan. The former has once visited 

 Britain, while A. (Ardeola) ralloides, the Squacco Heron, has 

 done so freqviently. This bird, which ranges from the Canaries 

 and Central Europe to South Africa and Persia,, is warm buff, 

 with white wings, tail, breast, and belly, the darker back possess- 

 ing long hair-like plumes which cover the tail, the jugulars being 

 buff, and the head graced by a tuft of long white feathers, margined 

 with black. A. {Lejiterodius) gularis of tropical Africa and Mada- 

 gascar, and A. asha, extending from the Persian Gulf to India, 

 are dusky-slate with white throat, and have moderate scapular 

 and pectoral plumes, with a nuptial crest. A. (Bemiegretta) 

 sacra, ranging from Bengal to Japan, Australia, and the Pacific, 

 differs in having only a white streak down the throat, A. greyi 

 being a white phase. A. (Melanophoyx) ardesiaca of the Ethiopian 

 Eegion is almost entirely slaty-lilack, with elongated occipital, 

 dorsal, and jugular feathers ; A. {Notophoyx) picata of Australia, 

 New Gruinea, and the Moluccas, is bluer, and nearly white below ; 

 while A. pacifica of that country is greener, with white head and 

 rufescent dorsal plumes. A. {Dichromanassa) rufa of the warmer 

 parts of North America is plumbeous, with reddish head and 

 neck, its white phase being denominated A. pealii ; here nearly 

 all the head- and neck-feathers are elongated, and the filamentous 

 scapulars extend beyond the tail. A. (Hydranassa) tricolor, 

 found from the Southern United States to Brazil, is grey- 

 blue, purple, rufous, and wliite, with shorter seasonal plumes 

 than the preceding ; A. (Florida) caerulea, with a slightly more 

 northern range, is slaty -blue, with maroon head and neck, a 

 variable amount of white when immature, and extremely long 

 scapulars ; while A. (Agamia) agami of central and northern 



1 Of. Sharpe, Oat. Birds Brit. Mus. xvii. 1898-9, pp. 56-59. 



