484. PEALE’S EGRET HERON. 
egretta of Gmelin and Latham, and having applied that name 
to the European alba, have given the American the new one 
of A, leuce. 
Mr Ord, in the second edition of Wilson’s “ Ornithology,” 
was therefore right in doubting the identity of the two species, 
and I was mistaken when I declared his doubts unfounded : 
but he ought not to have quoted as synonymous A. egretta 
of Temminck, &c. Indeed, I am unacquainted with a single 
instance in which, upon due examination, the rule will not 
hold good that no bird is common to both continents that 
does not inhabit during summer the high northern latitudes, 
and the Ardea alba and A. egretta are not winter birds, but, 
on the contrary, summer visitants of Europe and the United 
States, and do not even then range far to the north: the 
European, moreover, is chiefly found in the east, and hardly 
ever seen in the west of that continent. This alone ought to 
have led us to detect the discrepancy. In order to clear up 
this point before taking up the species which more imme- 
diately forms our subject, I think it proper to fix all the 
species of egrets of which I have a perfect knowledge. These 
are :— 
1. Ardea alba, L. (Ardea egretta, Temm., Ardea candida, 
Briss.), which can easily be distinguished by its large stature 
combined with a small crest (which is wholly wanting in the 
American), a much longer bill and longer tarsi, and the 
fusco-corneous colour of the legs. It is well figured by 
Naumann, “ Vog. Nachtr.,” tab. 46, f. 91, and the young by 
Roux, “‘ Ornithologie Provencale,” pl. 314 (under the name of 
egretta). It inhabits Enrope, especially the oriental parts, and 
is very common in the Caspian Sea, in Asiatic Turkey, &c. 
2. The second species is Ardea egretta, Gmel., Lath. (Ardea 
leuce, Temm.), the one figured by Wilson, whose tall stature 
allows it to be confounded with the preceding, from which, 
however, it may be readily distinguished by its perfectly 
smooth head, its light orange and shorter bill, and black legs. 
It is found both in North and South America, being men- 
