834 
Birds of Celebes; Ardeidae. 
Eggs. According to Hume these are decidedly paler sea- or bluish green than those of 
H. alba, A. cine/rea and purpurea ; in shape often very perfect and rather broad ovals : 
43—53 X 34—39 mm (27). 
Nest. On trees, in thickets, or among rushes, where it often breeds in dense colonies with 
other Herons, making a nest of twigs (Hume 27). 
Distribution. Africa ; the Indo-Chinese countries ; the East India Islands and Austraha. Japan 
(Siehold c II, Blakiston & Pryer a 10); China (Swinhoe 2, Styan 28, etc.); 
India (Jerdon, Hume, etc. f 2, 10,11); Ceylon (Legge, etc. 10); Andamans (^Vardlaw 
Ramsay 11, Hume & Davison 4); Burmah (Feilden 10, Oates 12); Sumatra 
(H. 0. Eorhes 14, Klaesi 20); Java (v. Hasselt a 2, Vorderman a S); Noord- 
wachter Is. (Vorderman 38); Sumba (Riedel 10***“); Billiton (Vorderman 30, 31); 
Borneo — Sarawak (Doria & Becc. 3, 2.5); Philippines — Palawan (Whitehd. 23, 
26), Bohol and Samar (Steere a 11), Llindoro (Bourns & Worcester 32), Mindanao 
(Everett 0); Celebes — IVIhiahassa (Meyer 15, Nat. Coll.), Gorontalo District 
(v. Rosenberg a 5, a 6), South Peninsula (Platen); Moluccas — Teniate (Bruijn 11); 
Papuasia — Salawatti, Mafoor, Kei, Aru (fide Salvad. 11); Is. of Torres Str. 
(McGillivray 11); Austraha (Gould d II, f 3, Ramsay 22). 
In his list of birds obtained at Lake Linibotto in 1863 — 64 Rosenberg 
(ad) mentions 9 examples of this Egret. One was obtained by Meyer at Lake 
Tondano, and two were sent to the Dresden Museum recently from the same 
spot by our native collector. A specimen from the Maros Waterfall from 
Platen establishes the occurrence of the species in South Celebes. 
The Lesser White Egret has a wide range, being found both in East, South, 
and West Africa, as well as in the countries of Asia and Australasia mentioned 
above. It is not stationary in all parts of its range. David says that it visits 
North China (Pekin) in the summer, though it is resident in Central and South 
China, and Seebohm speaks of it as a summer visitor to Japan. According 
to Whitehead it is a winter visitor to Palawan. It wdll be seen that the 
specimens known from Celebes were obtained both in winter and summer. 
The best means of distinguishing this species from the allied White Egrets 
of Celebes is to be found in its long toes, which considerably exceed the bill 
in length, a condition seen also in Btibulcus coromandus, but that species, when 
pure white, may be recognised by its smaller size and short bill. Serrations of 
the cutting edges of the bill near the tip are slightly more apparent than in 
H. alba, though less so than in Bubulcus. In the breeding season H. intermedia 
is more easy to distinguish, since its dorsal train is usually much longer than 
in the other Egrets, it has no occipital crest (in which point it differs from 
H. garzetta and eulophote.s) , and it is furnished Avith a quantity of long decomposed 
plumes on the jugulum (not seen in H. alba, and which are lanceolate in 
garzetta and eulophotes). At this season H. intermedia, like H. alba, gets a black, 
or chiefly black, bill; in winter the bill is yellow. Dr. Sharpe makes a new 
genus for it, Mesophogx, but the student will find that it requires much care to 
distinguish the white Egrets specifically, not to speak of genera; moreover. 
