544 



GREAT EGRET tIERON. 



Great White Heron. Penn, Brit. ZooL 2. 175. pL 62.-^P^««. 



Jrct. Zool. 2. 234.— Will. (Ang.) 279. pi. 49. — Lath. Gen, 



Syn. 5.91. 60.— Mow^. Orn. Diet. l.—-Mont. Orn. Diet. Sup. 



— Leuo. Brit. Birds. 4. pi. 150. 

 Great Egret. Penn. Arct. Zool. 2. 346. — Lath. Gen. Syn. 5. 89* 



5Q.-— Wills. Amer. Orn. 7. \0Q. pi. Ixi. /. 4. ? 



This fine species has the whole of the plumage 

 of a pure white, with a slight hanging crest on the 

 head: many of the feathers on the back are 

 elongated, and measure nearly a foot and a half in 

 length ; their shafts are strong and straight, and 

 their webs are long, very slender, and wedged, as 

 are also the feathers of the crest : the beak is 

 bright yellow : the naked space about the eyes is 

 green : the irides are bright yellow : the legs are 

 dusky, or dusky green : the length of this bird is 

 about three feet six inches. The young, before the 

 age of three years, and the old, during the period of 

 moulting, are of a pure white ; they do not possess 

 the crest or the long dorsal feathers : the former 

 have the upper mandible of the beak black at its 

 point and along the ridge, and during the first 

 year it is entirely dusky yellow, with the plumage 

 dirty white : the feet are greenish : the irides 

 bright yellow. 



This bird is found in various parts of the south 

 of Europe, and in the young state has been recorded 

 as a British bird, but upon questionable authority. 

 It is very numerous in Asia and in some parts 

 of Africa, and is likewise stated to be abundant in 

 America ; but upon the latter point I am not 

 certain, as the bird found in that part of the world 



