THE PURPLE HERON. 203 



rest of down normal but long, that of upper-parts blackish-brown, 

 of under-parts white. Sides of head, round eyes, chin, throat and 

 whole of neck nearly to base bare as also is centre of breast and 

 belly, sides of back and middle of mantle — down much sparser than 

 in Common Heron and darker on upper -parts. 



Juvenile. — Fore -head and fore-part of crown black, rest of 

 crown and back of neck pale chestnut (feathers of crest elongated 

 and narrow but not nearly so long or pointed as in adult and no 

 very long feathers) ; whole mantle and all scapulars and wing- 

 coverts dark brown broadly edged and tipped rufous-buff ; back, 

 rump and upper tail-coverts uniform dark grey-brown ; cheeks, 

 chin and middle of upper-throat white ; rest of throat with feathers 

 half brown-black and half buff ; feathers of breast same but dark 

 portions browner ; belly, tibia and under tail-coverts pale buff 

 with few brown markings ; flanks and axillaries dark grey-brown ; 

 under wing-coverts brown-grey, broadly tipped buff to rufous-buff ; 

 tail, primary-coverts and primaries brown-black, secondaries same 

 but innermost edged rufous as wing-coverts. 



First winter and summer. — Much like juvenile but feathers of 

 crest rather longer and more pointed and darker chestnut ; feathers 

 of mantle and especially upper scapulars with rufous tips elongated 

 and separated but not nearly so much as in adult ; feathers of 

 upper-breast rather longer and more pointed than in juvenile. The 

 juvenile body-plumage, varying number of wing-coverts andinnermost 

 secondaries are moulted Nov.-April but not wing- or tail-feathers. 



Second winter and summer. — Much like adult but some chest- 

 nut feathers mixed with black on back of neck ; crest feathers 

 shorter ; elongated feathers of mantle more rufous -buff and less 

 pinkish ; elongated feathers of upper-breast not so finely pointed ; 

 breast and belly not quite so dark ; lesser and median wing-coverts 

 broadly edged rufous. This plumage is acquired by complete moult 

 commencing sometimes May, but often not complete until Nov. 



Measurements and structure. — $ wing 330-380 mm., tail 105- 

 132, tarsus 115-130, bill from feathers 115-135 (12 measured). § 

 wing 290-355, bill 105-125. Primaries : 2nd, 3rd and 4th longest 

 but 4th often 5 mm. shorter, 1st usually 5-10 shorter, occasionally 

 as long, 5th 5-25 shorter, 6th 25^t0 shorter, 7th 45-60 shorter ; 

 2nd-4th emarginated outer and lst-3rd inner webs. Rest of 

 structure as Common Heron. 



Soft parts. — Bill brownish-yellow, yellower on lower mandible 

 and tip and shading to greenish at base and lores ; legs and feet 

 dark brown in front, yellowish behind and on bare part of tibia 

 (juv. greener) ; iris pale yellow. 



Characters and allied forms. — A. p. manillensis (India, China) 

 has elongated feathers of mantle and scapulars paler grey and of 

 upper-breast whiter. Smaller size, rufous-buff neck, darker upper- 

 parts and chestnut under-parts distinguish adult from Common 

 Heron and rufous neck and edgings to feathers juvenile. 



