Birds of Celebes; Ardeidae. 
819 
.female specimen described above at Kema in October, 1893. It is known from 
nearly all parts of Australia, where it breeds. The example from Celebes was 
killed during the breeding season in Australia, which is against the assumption 
that the bird is a migrant. 
The best marks for distinguishing the present species from its fellow Herons 
in Celebes are its white forehead, face and upper throat, its dark grey upper 
surface with lanceolate scapulars, its yellow legs and blackish bill. The tarsus 
is encased in front with large transverse scales, taking a smaller reticulate form 
on the lower part. The toes are not long for a Heron (the middle one being 
three-quarters as long as the tarsus); the bill is thin and not serrated, and the 
o-eneral structure is light. According to Gould it runs more quickly than the 
other Herons and never stands motionless in the water; its food consists of crabs, 
fish and marine insects. It also, as Sir Walter Buller observed, snatches at 
flies and other insects which come within its reach. It seems to have no very 
close affinities with any other Heron. The unserrated and slender bill separates 
it from the true Ardea and discloses relationship with the White Herons, 
Herodias; in plumage, foot, etc. it shows more resemblance to Demiegretta sacra, 
from which it may be easily distinguished by the characters mentioned above, 
besides by its larger size and more slender bill. 
GENUS DEMIEGRETTA Blytli. 
The Reef Heron frequents the sea-shore, feeding upon molluscs, crabs, etc., 
and its toes and claws are stouter and shorter than in most of the fresh-water 
forms. The tarsus is somewhat short, about equal to the culmen, transversely 
scutellated in front, reticulated behind; the bill is not serrated, and the edges 
of the tomia do not quite meet in the terminal third. It occurs under 
two forms, one slaty, the other white; the differences between the latter and 
the white Herons of the genus Herodias are pointed out further on (key to the 
White Herons, p. 823). 
350. DEMIEGRETTA SACRA (Gm.). 
Reef Heron. 
a. Sacred Heron (1) Lath., Gen. Syn. 1785, IH, 92 (with var. A). 
b. New Guinea Heron (1) Lath. op. cit. 71, (Nr. 34. 
c. Blue Heron var. B. (1) Lath. op. cit. 78. 
d. Ardea sacra (1) Gm., S. N. 1788, I, 640; (2) Finsch & Hartl., Orn. Centralpol. 1867, 
201; (III) Buller, B. New Zeal. 1873, 228, fig.; (4) Briigg., Ahh. Ver. Bremen 
1876 V, 97; (5) Rosenh., Malay. Ai’chip. 1878, 278; (6) Legge, B. Ceylon 1880, 
US?’; (7) Ramsay, Pr. L. Soc. N. S. W. 1883, 42; (8) Seebohm, Ibis 1884, 176; 
(IX) Buller, B. New Zeal. 2“^ ed. 1888, H, 129, pi. X(XXVI; (10) M. & Wg., 
Abh. Mus. Dresd. 1895, Nr. 8, p. 18. 
103 * 
