ALTRICIAL GRALLATORES — HERODIONES. 
20 
Arden rhenann, Sander. Naturf. XIII. 1779, 195. 
Arden Johannes, Gmel. S. N. I. ii. 1788, 629. 
Ardea cineracea, Brehm, Vbg. Deutsehl. 1831, 580. 
Ardca vulgaris, Bechst. Orn. Tascli. 1803, 255. 
Ardea brag, Geoff. Jacq. Voy. Iml. IV. 1844, 85. 
Ardea leucophcca, Gould, P. Z. S. 1848, 58. 
Ardea cinerea major, minor, media, et brachyrhijncha, Brehm, Verz. Samml. C. L. Brelim’s, 1866, 
12 ( Reichenow . ). 
Hub. Palsearctic region, south to Australia ; accidental in Southern Greenland. 
Sp. Char. Adult : Forehead and centre of pileum pure white ; sides of crown and occipital 
plumes deep black ; rest of head wholly white. Neck light cinereous, with a very faint lavender 
tinge, gradually fading into the white of the head ; the front part with a narrow longitudinal series 
of black dashes on a white ground. Upper parts bluish-gray, the penieillate plumes of the back 
and scapulars much lighter or pale pearl-gray. Border of the wing pure white ; anteaxillar tufts 
deep blue-black. Sides and flanks uniform pale blue-gray. Medial lower parts white, heavily 
striped laterally with blue-black. Tibiae and crissum pure white. Bill yellow, usually with the 
culmen brownish terminally ; bare loral space green ; iris yellow ; feet dull green ; tibiae yellow. 
(Macgillivray.) Juv. : Pileum deep ash-gray; occipital plumes black. Neck ash-gray, the 
front with a narrow longitudinal series of black and rufous dashes, mixed with white, the former 
predominating. Upper parts uniform slate-gray, destitute of penieillate plumes. Malar region, 
chin, and throat white. Anteaxillar tufts white, tipped with a rusty tinge. Edge of the wing and 
entire lower parts wholly white, tinged with buff. 
Wing, 18.50 ; tail, 8.00 ; culmen, 4.80 ; depth of bill through middle of nostril, 0.85 ; bare 
tibia, 3.25 ; tarsus, 6.25 ; middle toe, 3.80. [No. 57006 ; Europe.] 
The Common or Gray Heron of Europe has small claim to a place in the fauna of 
North America. Two specimens are recorded as having been known in Greenland, — 
one, seen in August, 1765, by the missionary Stach; the other, a young bird found 
dead near Nenortalik in 1856. It is a familiar European species, as also one of the 
most numerous of this peculiar and well-marked family. 
Formerly, before falconry had become one of the lost arts, it was the typical 
Heron of olden times, and occupied an important place in the sporting world. The 
