BLUE REEF-HERON. 
plumes de la tete peu allongees ; le reste du plumage d’un bleu vert pale.” 
Latham’s description {Gen. Synops. Birds, Vol. III., pt. i., p. 79, 1785) 
reads : “ Size of the last ; length eighteen inches. Bill, two inches and a 
half ; colour, yellow ; the bare skin between that and the eye the same ; the 
irides also pale yellow ; the head feathers loose, and somewhat elongated at 
the back part ; general colour of the plumage pale blue-green ; chin and 
throat white ; legs yellow ; claws black. 
“ Inhabits Queen Charlotte’s Sound, where the natives call it Matook.” 
It should be noted that Latham makes this a var. B. of his Blue Heron 
from America, but to which he adds a note : “It has also been met with at 
Otaheite, and other islands of the South Seas, where it is much respected.” 
The only fault in this description is that of the coloration, which can 
never be described as “ pale blue-green ” ! The explanation of this error 
is, that Latham drew up his account from an unfinished drawing made by 
G. Forster. The same bird was well described by J. R. Forster at the time, 
but his description did not appear until 1844, when Lichtenstein edited his 
Descr. Anim. A full account is given under the name Ardea jugularis 
(p. 172). I think that Ardea matooh might be used for the dark birds as 
the specific name : it has long been recognised as applicable. 
As before noted, many subspecies will later be recognised, as the New 
Zealand birds are very dark — darker than the Society Island and Fijian 
birds, while the Australian birds are lighter than the latter. Long series, 
correctly sexed, are absolutely necessary to determine the limits of the other 
races, and these are not available at the present time. 
I separated the Australian bird in the Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 232, 
1912, on account of the coloration, and noted its shorter tarsi, and also 
admitted the North - western form on its paler coloration. I have 
indicated that all Australian birds are paler than extra-Australian ones, 
and I am simply uniting the North-western with the Eastern one ip. the 
present work, but I am certain longer series will force the reinstatement 
of the former. 
455 
