Order ARDEIF0RME8 
No. 235. 
Family ARDEIDM, 
MESOPHOYX INTERMEDIA PLUMIFERA. 
PLUMED EGRET. 
(Plate 186.)* 
Herodias pltjmifertjs Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.) 1847, p. 221, 1848 ; New South 
Wales. 
Herodias plumiferus Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.) 1847, p. 221. 1848 ; id.. Birds 
Austr., Vol. VI., pi. 57, 1848. 
Egretta plumifera Bonaparte, Oomptes Rendus Sci. (Paris), Vol. XL., p. 722, 1855. 
Ardeu plumifera Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.) 1858, p. 197. 
Herodias egrettoides (not Gmelin) Gould, Handb. Birds Austr., Vol. II., p. 303, 1865 ; 
Ramsay, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.) 1877, p. 341. 
Herodias intermedia (not Wagler) id., Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., Vol. II., p. 199, 1878 ; 
id.. Tab. List Austr. Birds, p. 21, 1888. 
Mesophoyx plumifera Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., Vol. XXVI., p. 87, 1898 ; Hall, 
Key Birds Austr., p. 98, 1899 ; Campbell, Nests and Eggs Austr. Birds, p. 951, 
1901 ; Hartert, Nov. Zool., Vol. XII., p. 203, 1905 ; Hall, Key Birds Austr., p. 98, 
1906; Mattingley, Emu, Vol. VII., pp. 69-72, 1907; Campbell, ib., Vol. VII., 
p. 91, 1907 ; Mathews, Handl. Birds Austral., p. 32, 1908 ; North, Austr. Mus. 
Sp. Cat., no. 1, Vol. IV., p. 19, 1913. 
Egretta intermedia plumifera Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 230, 1912. 
MesopJioyx intermedia plumifera Mathews, List Birds Austr., p. 81, 1913. 
Distribution. Northern Territory ; Queensland ; New South Wales ; Victoria. 
Adult male, in breeding-plumage. General colour of the upper- and under-parts pure 
white. A long dorsal train, some ornamental disintegrated feathers on the fore- 
neck, and a slight nuchal crest. BiU, iris, and orbits yellow ; tarsus black ; tibia 
yellow. Total length 550 mm. ; culmen 77, wing 273, tail 113, tarsus 97. 
Adult female, in breeding-plumage. Similar to the adult male. 
Adult, in winter-plumage. Differs from the summer-plumage by the absence of the 
dorsal train and the ornamental feathers on the fore-neck. 
Hest. “ Nearly flat and scantily formed of thin sticks and twigs, in some instances 
with leaves attached, and were so small that they were almost covered by the 
birds when sitting ” (North). 
* The Plate is lettered Egretta plumifera. 
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