ARDEINiE. ERODIUS. 
131 
full ; feathers on the head more or less elongated, on the 
neck short, on its fore part below of considerable length ; 
four longitudinal dorsal series of very elongated feathers, 
generally having distantly placed filaments, and often ex- 
tending beyond the tail ; wings ample, of about twenty-eight 
quills, of which the outer three are nearly equal ; tail short, 
nearly even, of twelve feathers. 
Many, not all, of these birds are white. They feed on 
fishes, reptiles, Crustacea, insects, small quadrupeds, young 
birds, and other animals. They are remarkable for their 
graceful movements, and in activity greatly surpass the 
Herons. The nest is generally placed on a tree or bush, 
but sometimes on the ground ; the eggs three or four, broadly 
elliptical, light blue. None of the species are resident in 
Britain. Egretta being neither Greek nor Latin, I should 
prefer as the generic name Erodius. 
223. Erodius Victorije. Queen Victoria’s Egret. 
Length about three feet and two-thirds ; occipital feathers 
very slightly elongated ; dorsal plumes with the shaft stiffish, 
straight, and extending a little beyond the tail; plumage 
white, bill black, with the tip dull greenish-grey ; bare pre- 
ocular space verdigris green ; feet dingy flesh-coloured, but 
the tarsal and digital scutella dusky. 
Were the descriptions of authors so detailed as those in 
my History of British Birds, one might easily refer to its 
species any individual bird that he might obtain ; but this is 
by no means the case, insomuch that even the most recent 
works, namely, those of Mr Gould and Mr Yarrell, contain 
descriptions and figures of the Great White Egret so imper- 
fect as to be useless for comparison with very nearly allied 
species. That bird has the shaft of the dorsal plumes straight, 
and yet they are represented in both works as arcuate or de- 
curved, but in Mr Gould’s with the tip a little recurvate. 
The bill in both works is bounded by right lines, which is 
not the case in any Egret known to me. The descriptions 
are, I regret being obliged to say it, good for nothing. 
In the summer of 1840, I obtained a most beautiful adult 
male white Egret, which was shot by Mr Martin, gamekeeper 
to the Earl of Haddington, on Tyningham Sands, in East Lo- 
thian, on the 9th of June, and having been sent to Mr Mac- 
