Order ABDEIF0RME8 
No. 234. 
Family ARDEIDJS. 
EGRETTA GARZETTA IMMACULATA. 
LESSER EGRET. 
(Plate 185.) 
Herodias IMMACULATA Gould, Birds Austr., Vol. VI., pi. 58, 1846 ; Port Essington. 
Herodias immaculata Gould, Birds Austr., Vol. VI., pi. 58, 1846. 
Ardea immaculata Gray, Genera Birds, Vol. III., p. 555, 1847. 
Garzetta immaculata Bonaparte, Comptes Rendus Sci. (Paris), Vol. XL., p. 722, 1855. 
Herodias melanopus (not Ardea melanopus Wagler 1829) Gould, Handb. Birds Austr., 
Vol. II., p. 304, 1865 ; Ramsay, Tab. List Austr. Birds, p. 21, 1888. 
Garzetta nigripes Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., Vol. XXVI., p. 122, 1898 ; Hall, Key 
Birds Austr., p. 99, 1899 ; Robinson and Laverock, Ibis 1900, p. 652 ; Campbell, 
Nests and Eggs Austr. Birds, p. 958, 1901 ; Hall, Key Birds Austr., p. 99, 1906 ; 
Mathews, Handl. Birds Austral., p. 32, 1908. 
Mesophoyx plumifera (not Gould) Mathews, Emu, Vol. X., p. 105, 1910. 
Egretta garzetta immaculata Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 231, 1912; Mathews, 
List Birds Austr., p. 81, 1913. 
Distribution. North-west Australia ; Northern Territory ; North Queensland. 
Adult male, in hreeding-plumage. Entirely pure white above and below with a dorsal 
train and long ornamental lanceolate plumes on the fore-neck. Bill black, base 
of lower mandible and lores yellow ; eyes and eyelash yellow ; feet and legs ohve- 
brown. Total length 551 mm. ; culmen 83, wing 250, tail 99, tarsus 105. 
Adult female, in breeding-plumage. Similar to the adult male but smaller, and the 
ornamental plumes on the back and fore-neck less developed. 
Adult, in non-breeding plumage. Differs by the almost entire absence of the dorsal train 
and the ornamental feathers on the fore-neck. 
Nest. “ A platform of sticks (about 12 inches in diameter) in a eucalyptus or other 
tree at the edge of a swamp or lagoon. Usually in colonies.” (Campbell.) 
Eggs. “ Clutch, three to four ; short ellipse in shape ; texture of shell somewhat coarse ; 
surface slightly glossy and minutely pitted ; colour light or pale bluish-green ; 
axis 45-48 mm. ; diameter 33-39” (Campbell). 
Breeding-season. April (Campbell, North Queensland). 
Mr. J. P. Rogers, writing from West Australia, says that when disturbed 
this bird, and Herodias syrtnatopihora, always rise high in the air and after 
circling for a while wiU alight again on the opposite side of the swamp. 
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