Order ARDE1F0RME8 
Family ARDEIDM. 
No. 241. 
DEMIGRETTA GREYI. 
WHITE REEF-HERON. 
(Plate 192.) 
Heeodias GREYI Gould, Birds Austr., Vol. VI., pi. 61, 1848; Raine Island, North 
Queensland. 
Herodias greyi Gould, Birds Austr., Vol. VI., pi. 61, 1848. 
Demiegretta greyi id., Handb. Birds Austr., Vol. II., p. 309, 1865. 
Demigretta sacra greyi Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 232, 1912. 
Demigretta sacra huchanani Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. I., p. 85, 1912 (Buchanan 
Island). 
Demigretta greyi Mathews, List Austr. Birds, p. 83, 1913 ; id., Ibis 1914, p. 106. 
Distribution. Australia ; Tasmania. 
Adult male. The entire plumage uniform white above and below, with long lanceolate 
ornamental feathers on the back which are httle disintegrated in texture. 
A nuchal crest and ornamental feathers on the lower fore-neck. Bill yeUow ; 
iris yeUow’, orbits and lores greenish-j'-ellow ; feet olive-yeUow ; tarsi and lower 
tibia olive-green ; soles orange. Total length 566 mm. ; culmen 85, wing 269, 
tail 97, tarsus 67. 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male. 
Nest. Placed on the ground and composed of sticks, piled in some instances a foot high, 
and lined with fine twigs. 
Eggs. Clutch, two to five, uniform pale green ; axis 43 mm., diameter 34.5. 
Breeding-season. September and October to January, but practically all the year round. 
Under the previous species I have discussed the Gmelinian name, Ardexi 
sacra, and advocated its rejection, as I conclude that the dark and white 
birds associated by Sharpe in the Catalogue of the Birds in the British 
Museum, Vol. XXVI., under the name Demiegretta sacra (Gmelin), are reaUy 
referable to two species, and that as Gmelin’s name was given to a hybrid, 
it cannot be used. 
No fiield- worker yet has given the attention to this subject that it 
deserves, the few notes and opinions cited under the preceding species 
covering most that has been done. 
456 
