BUFF -BACKED EGRET. 137 
tion to the British Museum. “ It was shot near 
Kingsb ridge, in Devonshire; had been seen for 
several days in the same field, attending some 
cows, and picking up insects, which were found 
in its stomach.” The attendance on cattle is a 
curious habit in some of the Egrets, without doubt, 
on account of the insects that abound near them ; 
in India, for this reason, some have received a pro- 
vincial name, signifying “ Cow or Cattle Heron.” 
The Asiatic continent, from every authority, 
would seem the most abundant locality, or rather 
the real country of this bird ; Upper Hindostan,* 
the Dukhun,f Java,J isles of Sunda, Japan, || 
Himalaya and Nepaul,§ are all given as countries 
from where it has been received. 
In the adult birds, the feathers, at the roots, are 
pure white, hut on the head, neck, and breast, with 
the elongated feathers on the hack, are of an orange 
or saffron-yellow ; the remaining parts of the bird 
are pure white ; the bill and legs are yellow, the 
joints of the latter and the toes darker. 
Montague’s young specimen is described by him 
to be in “ length about twenty inches ; the bill 
two inches long to the feathers on the forehead, 
and of an orange-yellow. The whole plumage 
snowy white, except the crown of the head, and 
the upper part of the neck before, which are buff. 
Legs three inches and a-half long, and one inch 
and a-half of bare space above the knees ; these 
* Major Franklin. + Colonel Sykes. 4-' Horsfield. 
|| Temminck. § Gould. 
