Order ABDEIFORMES 
No. 233. 
Family ABDEIDJB, 
TYPHON SUMATRANA MATHEWS^. 
GREAT-BILLED HERON. 
(Plate 184.)=‘‘ 
Ardea SUMATRANA MATHEWSJE Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 230, 1912 ; 
Cooktown, Queensland. 
Ardea rectirosfris Gould (not 1843), Birds Austr., Vol. VI., pi. 54, 1848. 
Ardea sumatrana (not Raffles) id., Handb. Birds Austr., Vol. II., p. 296, 1865 ; Ramsay, 
Proc. Zool. Soc. (Bond.) 1868, p. 387 ; id., ib. 1877, p. 341 ; id., Tab. List Austr. 
Birds, p. 21, 1888 ; North, Austr. Mus. Cat., no. 12, p. 317, 1890 ; Sharpe, Cat. 
Birds Brit. Mus., Vol. XXVI., p. 68, 1898 ; Hall, Key Birds Austr., p. 98, 1899 ; 
Campbell, Nests and Eggs Austr. Birds, p. 950, 1901 ; Hartert, Nov. Zool., 
Vol. XII., p. 203, 1905 ; Hall, Key Birds Austr., p. 98, 1906 ; Mathews, Handl. 
Birds Austral., p. 31, 1908 ; Cornwall, Emu, Vol. IX., p. 138, 1910 ; Broadbent, 
Emu, Vol. X., p. 243, 1910. 
Ardea sumatrana mathewsm Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 230, 1912 (Cooktown, 
Queensland). 
Ardea sumatrana gilberti Mathews, ib. (Derby, North-west Australia). 
Typhon sumatrana mathewsm Mathews, List Birds Austr., p. 80, 1913. 
Distribution. North New South Wales ; Queensland ; Northern Territory ; North- 
west Australia. 
Adult male. General colour above dark brown with a purplish gloss including the 
upper-back and wings ; the scapulars lanceolate in form and hoary-grey in colour ; 
lower-back, outer marginal coverts and tail ash-grey ; head and hind-neck brown 
with an elongated nuchal crest of lanceolate feathers ; lower hind-neck and fore- 
neck hoary-grey with long lanceolate feathers ; chin and upper-throat whitish ; 
sides of face and lower-throat dusky-brown ; abdomen, thighs, and under tail- 
coverts dusky ash-grey, like the under wing-coverts ; axillaries uniform ash- 
grey. Bill black, lower edges of lower mandible yellow ; iris and bare space 
round the eyes yeUow ; feet black, soles yellowish. Total length 1,047 mm. ; 
culmen 173, wing 443, tail 160, tarsus 150. 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male, 
Yourvg male, one year old. Upper-parts dark brown or plumbeous-grey, the feathers 
everywhere broadly margined with ferruginous, except the quills and tail- 
feathers ; crown of head dark brown with rusty margins to the feathers ; the 
neck all round and nuchal crest ferruginous ; abdomen, under tail-coverts, and 
* The Plate is lettered Ardea mathewscB. 
419 
