dkmiixu{i:tta crevi r^mwj 



W HITE REEF HERON. Genus : Dbmibgretta. 



/ 1(>I Id) was of* opinion thai this species was abundantly distributed "over the northern and eastern 

 * ' coasts <»t Australia wherever low islands and reef's of coral running parallel to those coasts occur," 

 l>nt later research has proved him to he slightly incorrect, for it is found to be restricted in its habitats to 

 that part of the eastern coast lying between southern Queensland on the north and New South Wales on the 

 south. I lis supposition that it would probably prove to be an albino variety of D. jugularis has also been 

 exploded by Mr. Macgillivray, who writes as follows : — 



" From the circumstances of my having always found this and the dark-coloured species in company, 

 I considered them as the same bird in different states of plumage, their size and proportion being so similar, 

 and was surprised that individuals exhibiting a change from blue to white or vice versd never occurred. At 

 length, while on Dugong Island, I was convinced they were specifically distinct by seeing that the half-grown 

 young from the nest had assumed the distinctive colour of the parents. This was first pointed out to me by 

 Dr. Muirhead, R.N., whose attention I had previously drawn to the subject. The habits of both species are 

 similar; and they procure their food in the same manner at low water on the coral reefs surrounding the low 

 islands they frequent. The nest and eggs are precisely similar, but the young of this bird is white from the 

 nest." 



The entire plumage is snow-white; bill, yellowish straw-colour, with a dusky tinge on the culmen 

 and towards the point ; irides, primrose-yellow ; eyelids, bright yellow ; lores and orbits, dull green ; soles, 

 orange; claws, pale horn-colour, hind one dark; anterior plates of the toes, bluish-black. (Gould) 



Habitats: Wide Bay District, Richmond and Clarence River District, New South Wales. (Ramsay.) 



