830 
Birds of Celebes: Ardeidae. 
“Pokok kulo sela”, Tondano, iid. 
“Baletagi bakejwa”, Kabruang, Talaut, iid. 
For further synonymy and references cf. Salvadori h 3\ Stejneger j f. 
Figures and descriptions. J. E. Gray & Hardwicke h JJ; Gould d I, 2\ Hume h 2] 
Legge 4] Salvadori /2 5; Oates 5; Taczanowski /cf; Sharpe ml. 
Description. Entire plumage white; no ornamental plumes on the nape and jugulum; “iris 
yellow; hare skin round the eye and of lores greenish” (Taczan.) k 1\ tarsi and 
feet black. 
Breeding plumage. Bill black; a long dorsal train extending about 100 mm beyond the tail 
consisting of lengthened feathers, decomposed into shafts with long thread-like rami, 
which spring from the upper back and scapulary region; bare part of tibia reddish brown. 
Winter plumage. Bill yellow; tibia black, like the tarsus; the dorsal train wanting. 
Young. Bill yellow, and the dorsal train wanting, as in the adult in winter; wing and bill 
apparently smaller. 
Nestling. “Covered with white down, the legs brownish” (Legge 4). 
ments. 
Wing 
Tab 
Tarsus 
Middle 
toe 
with claw 
Ex- 
posed 
culm. 
a. (C 2004) imm.? Lake Tondano, June, 71 (Meyer) 
350 
135 
146 
101 
108 
b. (C 10971) ad., L. Tend., Aug.— Sept. 92 (Nat. C.) 
370 
136 
168 
109 
115 
c. fC 10970) imm.? L. Tond., Aug. — Sept. 92 (N. C.) 
340 
120 
137 
95 
106 
d. (C 13010) ad., Kabruang, 9. Nov. 93 (Nat. Coll.) 
372 
150 
155 
108 
112 
e. (C 13009) imm.? Kabruang, 7. Nov. 93 (Nat. C.) 
354 
132 
150 
103 
107 
Typical Ardea alba (for comparison). 
(Nr. 13931) (5', ad., Astrachan (Henke) . . . . 
455 
185 
190 
115 
123 
Observation. All the five Oelebesian specimens have yellow bills, and those marked adult are 
still wearing the lengthened filamentous dorsal plumes of the breeding season, or some 
of them. Comparing the bill with the wing the eastern Great White Heron seems 
to have a longer bill than the typical alba. 
Moult. Specimen d killed in November is acquiring fi-esh ornamental dorsal feathers. 
Eggs. Three or four in number, moderately smooth in texture, nearly regular ovals in shape, 
of an uniform pale greenish blue colour; size 51.8 — 55.9 X 35.3 — 38.9 mm (Legge 4). 
Nest. Of sticks, on the topmost branches of trees, the surface of the nest very flat with 
scarcely any hollow') for the eggs, which rest upon a lining of roots and twigs 
(Legge 4). 
Distribution in the East. Corea, Japan and China west to India and Ceylon, the East Indies 
to Austraha and Tasmania. — In the Celebesian area: Minahassa (Meyer, Nat. 
Coll.), Gorontalo Distr. (Forsten el, Bosenb. e 5, i 1), Talaut Is. — Kabruang 
(Nat. Coll.); Sula Islands (Wallace m 1). For exact localities cf. Salvadori 
h 3, he, adding Corea (Kalinowski k 1}, Loochoo Is. (StimpsonjJ, Holst 11], 
Talaut Is. (Nat. Coll, h 7), and excluding (?) New Zealand (Buller). 
The Large White Egret is perhaps not stationary in Celebes, where few 
specimens have been recorded. One without any dorsal train was obtained in 
1) A rounded bottom to the nest would probably result in the long-legged young, which squat upon 
the tarsi, getting crooked shanks ; presumably a hollow would be veiy inconvenient also to the legs of the 
brooding female. The amusing fallacy that the sitting Heron, as also the Flamingo, sat astraddle on the nest 
like a man on horseback, may here be mentioned. 
