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Genus— M ESOPHOYX. 
Mesophoyx Sharpe, Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club, Vol. III., 
p. xxxviii., 1894 . . . . . . . . . . Type M. intermedia. 
Ardeine birds resembling Egretta, but having the head crested, no nape- 
plumes, and in place of the lanceolate ornamental breast-plumes, long 
feathers with disintegrated webs. 
The biU is stout and somewhat conical, and is much less than one- 
third the length of the wing and also less than the metatarsus. 
The wing is long, with the first three primaries subequal and longest. 
The tail is long and noticeably exceeds the length of the culmen or 
the metatarsus. 
The legs are long, with a long exposed tibia ; the metatarsus is con- 
siderably longer than the culmen. The toes are long. 
It should be noted that in the Catalogue of the Birds in the British 
Museum, Vol. XXVI., Sharpe separated Mesophoyx from Herodias and 
Garzetta {= Egretta) on account of its having serrations on the edges of the 
upper mandible. These are, however, so indistinct as to be almost negligible, 
and I would in preference note that in Egretta, Mesophoyx, and Herodias, 
the serrations noticed in the bill of Ardea and Typhon are absent. 
I have given under Egretta the characters whereby these two genera 
can be easily differentiated. 
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