96 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



The plumage on the under surface of the body presents a mixture of white and liver-brown, 

 in nearly equal quantities, disposed in large and not very well defined spots, the white occu- 

 pying the lateral margins of the feathers. The base of the plumage, both above and below, 

 is blackish-grey. The linings of the wings are white, with some blotches of clove-brown ; and 

 the insides of the quill and tail feathers are clove-brown, with white spots corresponding to 

 those on their exterior surfaces. The feathers clothing the legs and feet are soiled yellowish- 

 white, with some obscure brown markings. 



Form, &c. — Head large. Bill small, almost concealed by the facial circles, curved from 

 the base, compressed, with an obtuse ridge. Cere short, rounded above, and tumid on the 

 sides. Nostrils small, transverse, oval. Facial circle complete. Concha forming almost a 

 semicircle, with a long narrow operculum. There is a fulness of the plumage on the usual 

 site of the egrets. The plumage in general is unusually soft, the barbs of the feathers being 

 very slender and open. The scapularies are short ; but the secondaries and tertiaries are 

 long, the latter falling only an inch short of the tips of the wings when folded. The tips of 

 the wings themselves are an inch and a quarter shorter than the tail. The third quill feather 

 is the longest, and the fourth very nearly equals it ; the second and fifth are equal to each 

 other, and a quarter of an inch shorter than the third ; the sixth and following ones become 

 each in succession four or five lines shorter ; the first equals the seventh. The inner webs of 

 the first and second primaries are sinuated, and the outer web of the second is undulated or 

 very obliquely sinuated *. The points of the outer barbs of the first primary, of those of the 

 second for half its length, and of those near the point of the third, are reverted. The tail is 

 slightly rounded, the middle feather exceeding the exterior one by about a quarter of an inch. 

 Feet, when stretched out, reaching within an inch and a half of the end of the tail. Tarsi 

 and toes short, clothed by long hairy feathers to the roots of the nails, where one scale only 

 becomes visible on putting the feathers aside. Nails of moderate size; inner and middle one 

 of equal length, both grooved, and the latter with a sharp inner edge ; the other two smaller, 

 and rounded beneath. 



Dimensions. 



Inches. Lines. Inches. Lines. 



Length from the point of the bill to the end Length of the bill, measured along the ridge 9 



of the tail, measuring over the crown .11 6 ,, of the tarsus . . . .0 10^ 



„ of the tail . . . . .5 .0 ,, of the middle toe ... 7 



„ of the longest quill feather .6 6 „ of the middle claw ... 6 



Three other specimens have precisely the same dimensions and markings on the 

 plumage. Two of them were killed near the sources of the Peace River, in the 

 Rocky Mountains. 



* This is the general form. In one specimen the sinuation is rather abrupt, and deeper. 



