WHITE REEF-HERON. 
Yet it would seem a most interesting problem to investigate, and, by 
means of careful examination, give to science the number of birds in a 
breeding-colony, the proportion of dark-coloured to white birds, the manner 
in which they mate, and state of the young in the nests when differently 
coloured birds mate. 
It should be recollected that at one time the white birds were thought 
to be the adult stage of the dark ; at another the reverse was suggested ; while 
at the present time both these views are known to be incorrect. It now 
remains to be proven whether the view taken by Sharpe, or the one I here 
adopt, is the right one, but all the facts seem to point to the latter. It is 
now necessary to make accurate detailed investigations — mere opinions are 
quite valueless. 
The bird figured and described is a male, collected on the Namoi 
River, New South Wales, in May, 1893. 
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