ARDEA CINEREA. 
(THE GREY HERON.) 
Ardea cinerea, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 236 (1766) ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 278 (1849) ; 
Layard, Ann. &Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 110 ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 741 (1864) ; 
Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 477 ; Yon Heuglin, Orn. N.Ost-Afr. iii. p. 1053 (1873) ; Hume, 
Str. Feath. 1873, p. 253, et 1876, p. 465, et 1879, viii. p. 112 (List of Ind. B.) ; Salva- 
dori, Uccelli di Borneo, p. 344 (1874); Legge, Ibis, 1875, p. 403; Hume, Nests and 
Eggs, iii. p. 610 (1875) ; David & Oustalet, Ois. de la Chine, p. 437 (1877) ; Davison & 
Hume, Str. Feath. 1878 (B. of Tenass.) p. 472; Dresser, B. of Eur. pt. 41, 42 (1875). 
Ardea leucophoea, Gould, P. Z. S. 1848, p. 58 ; id. B. of Austr. vi. (1848). 
Le Heron commun, BufFon, Hist. Nat. vii. p. 343. 
The Common Heron of European authors ; Garga real, Portuguese ; Garza, Spanish ; Fisch- 
Reiher, German ; Blaauwe Reiger, Dutch. Bou-anJc, Arabic ; Aishoush, Moorish ; 
Kalmd, Hind. ; Anjan, Sada kanka, Bengal. ; Baa, Sindh ; Narraina pachi, Telugu ; 
Narrayan , Tamil (Jerdon); Zaplia seraya, Russian, Central Asia (Prjevalsky) ; TJkar, 
Turki (Scully) ; Changa-awu, Java (Horsf.), Lou-sse, Chinese. 
Kallapua-Karaival-koka, Induru-koka, Sinhalese. 
Adult female (Ceylon). Length 38'25 inches; wing 17‘0 ; tail7'0; bare tibia 2 - 0; tarsus 5- 6 ; middle toe 4'0, claw 
(straight) 06 ; bill to gape 5-8, at front 4-5. 
Adult males (Yarkand). Wing 18 - 0 to 18'2 inches ; tarsus 6-0 to 6-5 ; bill from gape 6-3 to 6'5, at front 4-85 to 5-3 ; 
bare tibia 2-8 to 3-7 (Scully).— Females. Wing 17 - 7 ; tarsus 6-25 to 6-3 ; bare tibia 3-1 to 3-2 ; bill from gape 6To 
to 6-25, at front 4-8 to 4-85. — Females ? (China). Wing 17 - 0; tarsus 5-7 ; bill at front 4-6. — Female ? (Japan). 
Wing 17'0 inches ; tarsus 6'0 ; bill at front 4'6. — Male and female (England). Wing 17‘5 to 18'5 ; tail 5-0 
to 6-5 ; tarsus 5-5 to 5-8 ; bare tibia 3-0 to 3-2; bill at front 4-5 to 4-9. (Australia: A. leucoplima) Wing 19*0; 
bill to gape 7’0 (Gould). 
Iris golden yellow ; loral skin greenish; bill dusky yellow ; culmen brownish ; legs and feet greenish brown, with the 
tibia and posterior part of the tarsus greenish yellow. 
Male. Forehead, crown, throat, face, and down the centre of the throat white, a broad black band on the sides of the 
head, commencing just in front of the eye and passing to the occiput, where it forms a lengthened crest, the three 
longest feathers measuring 5 or 6 inches ; neck ashy grey, tinged slightly with reddish, down the white part of the 
throat a double row of black drop -shaped spots, commencing about 6 inches from the chin, and connecting with 
two tufts of black “ decomposed ” plumes on each side of the chest, over which droop a series of long lanceolate 
feathers, in some specimens 6 inches in length ; under surface white ; axillaries and flanks blue-grey, with a 
broad band of black running from the chest-patches down the sides of the breast to the thighs ; back, tail, and 
wings bluish grey ; the upper scapulars and interscapular region shaded with darker grey, and the longer scapulars 
pale grey and very long and lanceolate ; greater wing-coverts pale blue-grey ; the point of the wing and the edge 
above and beneath white ; primaries with their coverts and the winglet slaty black, the secondaries the same 
near the tips, and slaty-grey towards the base ; tertials slaty grey ; shafts of the tail-feathers blackish, under 
wing-coverts slaty. 
Female. Plumage generally duskier than in the male, the occipital crest-plumes not so lengthened, and the breast- 
plumes not so long. 
Nestling: partly in down (Holland). The feathers, which are appearing all over the body, are black on the head, white 
