PLATE IXIXI. 



GENUS ARDEA (Linnceus). 



this Genus it is enough to say that it lias representatives in all quarters of the globe. 



ARDEA XOV^E HOLL ANDRE (Lath.) 



WHITE-FRONTED HERON. Genus : Ardea. 



TN the present partially developed state of the Natural History of Australia, it is inevitable that many 

 J- classifications are little more than tolerably close approximations that will be more correctly defined by 

 each succeeding generation of specialists. In the case of this Heron and its near congener, A. Pacifica, it is 

 almost certain that they are incorrectly placed in the Genus Ardea, from which they differ in their slenderer 

 form, the slightly downward curvature of the mandibles, in their colouring, and in the localities they affect. 

 For these two Herons are not strictly confined to the river system and lagoons of the coast, but penetrate 

 also to the interior where fresh water takes the place of salt. They may be commonly seen wading knee 

 deep in the salt marshes in search of crabs, fish, and marine insects. 



It has the same heavy flapping flight as the other Herons, but it is more active on the ground, 

 while in the water it never stands motionless as do the true Herons. 



Incubation takes place in October when nests are built on the tops of small gum trees, of sticks 

 and leaves. The eggs are four in number, and measure 1 inch 10| lines by 1 inch 3^ lines. Campbell says 

 of this Common Heron that it is a persistent breeder. " I heard of five clutches of five eggs each having 

 been taken from one nest, and, notwithstanding, the bird succeeded in rearing a brood before the season 

 expired." 



The stomach is very capacious, and the weight of the adult bird about one pound five ounces. {Gould.) 



The only difference observable in the sexes is that the female is slightly smaller than the male. 



Face and throat, white; head and back of neck, dark slate-colour; all upper surfaces, dark grey: 

 the wings, tinged with brown ; elongated features of the back, grey tinged with brown ; elongated features 

 of the breast, cinnamon-brown ; under surfaces, grey, washed with rufous, which becomes paler towards the 

 tail-coverts ; down the lower part of the neck a stripe of buff, gradually blending above with the white of 

 the throat, and below with the cinnamon tint of the breast ; irides, in some lead colour, in others yellow, 

 and in others pale buff ; orbits and base of the bill, in some pale grey, in others deep lead-colour ; base of 

 the lower mandible, flesh-colour. [Gould.) 



There are many slight individual variations of colour among the White-Fronted Herons. The 

 (Queensland representative, for instance, has the white of the throat extending three-quarters of the way down 

 the chest ; the under surfaces become a warm ferruginous grey, and on the edge of the shoulders are long 

 reddish -brown feathers which give to it a rather aggressive expression. 



Habitats : Derby (N.W.A.), Port Darwin and Port Essington, Rockingham Bay, Port Denis. in, 

 Wide Bay District, Dawson River, G.B., Richmond and Clarence River Districts, New South Wales, Interior, 

 Victoria and South Australia, Tasmania, West and South-West Australia. (Ramsay.) 



