GG6 
U. S. P. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS — ZOOLOGY GENERAL REPORT. 
HERODIAS, Boie. 
Herodias, Boie, Isis, 1822, 559. Type Jlrdea egretta. Not of Bonap. 1855. 
Egretta, Bonap. Saggio di una dist. Met. 1831. Type Jlrdea egretta. 
Ch. — Color white. Bill quite slender. Culmen nearly straight ; more convex terminally than the gonys. Middle toe more 
than half the tarsus. Tihia bare for one-half. Outer toe longest. Claws moderate, considerably curved . Tarsus broadly scutellato 
anteriorly. Head smooth. Back in breeding season with a series of fastigiate plumes longer than the tail, and curving gently 
downwards. Tail of twelve broad stiffened feathers. Back of neck well feathered. Colors pure white at all times. 
The white heron from southern California is much larger than that from the eastern States, 
and possibly distinct. 
HEEODIAS EGRETTA, Gray. 
White Heron. 
Jlrdea egretta, Gmelin, I, 1788, G29.— Lath. Ind. Orn. II, 1790, 694, (not of other older European writers.)— 
Wilson, Am. Orn. VII, 1813, 106; pi. vi.— Wagler, Syst. Av. 1827; Jlrdeasp. 7.— Bonap. Oss. 
Cuv. 97.— Nuttall, Man. II, 1834, 47.— Aud. Orn. Biog. IV, 1838, 600 ; pi. 386.— Ib. Syn. 265.— 
Ib. Birds Amer. VI, 1843, 132 ; pi. 370. 
Herodias egretta, Gray, Genera. — Gundlach, Cab. Jour. IV, 1856, 341. 
Jlrdea huce, " Illiger," Licht. Verz. 1823, sp. 793. 
Egretta leuce, Bonap. (Saggio, 1831 ?) List, 1838. 
Herodias leuce, Brehm, Handbuch, 1831, 585. 
Jlrdea alba, Bonap. Obs. Wilson, 1825, No. 189.— Ib. Syn. 304. (Not of Linnaeus.) 
Ch-eat egret, Pennant, II, 446. — Latham. 
Sp. Ch. — Head smooth ; bill yellowish to the tip ; feet black. Color pure white. Length, 39 inches ; wing, 15.50 ; tarsus, 
5.70 ; bill above, 4.70. 
Hub. — Southern portions of the United States ; straggling to Massachusetts. 
Bill, with the culmen and gonys about equally curved, the commissure slightly concave near 
the tip. Legs slender, elongated ; middle toe about three-fourths the tarsus. Tibia bare for 
about half its length. Head without a crest; the feathers lying close. Lower part of the back, 
in the breeding season, with a series of elongated feathers, with stiffened shafts, the plumulae 
distant and elongated. These feathers are gently pendent (not recurved) and extend beyond 
the tail by about its length ; their total length is nearly three times that of the tail. The 
feathers of the lower part of the neck but little elongated. 
Color entirely white; feet black; bill yellowish, dusky above, (in 9298.) According to 
Audubon, the entire bill and the iris are yellow. 
This species appears to differ from the European E. alba in lacking a black tip to the bill 
which is five inches long, not six ; the tarsus is about six inches long, instead of eight. 
List of specimens . 
Catal. No. 
Locality. 
Whence obtained. 
Collected by— 
2735 
9298 
5892 
5775 
5107 
Texas 
