THE GREY HERONS. 
69 
THE GREY HERONS. GENUS ARDEA. 
Ardea, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 283 (1766). 
Type, A. cinerea, Unn. 
In the genus Ardea the tail-feathers are twelve in number, 
'>ut the middle toe is not so long as in Fhoyx, the tarsus being 
longer than the middle toe and claw combined. The claw on 
Ihe hallux, or hind-toe, is curved and is not half so long as the 
hallux itself. The edges of the mandibles are distinctly serrated 
and there is a faint trace of a notch just before the tip of the 
upper mandible. This notch, however, is often obsolete. 
I. THE COMMON HERON. ARDE.'t CINERE.\. 
Aid.a cinerea, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 266 (1766); Macg. Br. 
B. iv. p. 440 (1852) ; Dresser, B. Eur. vi. p. 207, pi. 395 
(1875) ; B. 0 . U. List Br. B. p. 107 (1883) ; Seebohm, 
Br. B. ii. p. 468 (1884) ; Saunders, ed. Yarr. Br. B. iv. 
p. 162 (1884); Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. B. part viii. (1888); 
Saunders, Man. Br. B. p. 355 (1889): Sharpe, Cat. B. 
Brit. Mus. xxvii. p. 76. 
{Plate LK VI.') 
Adult Male. — General colour above light ashy-grey, the sca- 
pulars and innermost secondaries elongated and drooping, 
forming ornamental plumes of pearly-grey or white ; wing- 
coverts grey, the outer ones lighter and inclining to pearly-grey 
or white; quills black, the secondaries externally grey, the 
inner ones like the back ; tail grey ; crown of head crested, 
white in the centre, with a broad band of purplish-black on 
each side ending in a crest on the occiput, from w’hich de- 
pend two long drooping black plumes ; sides of face, neck, 
and under surface of body white, with a shade of creamy- 
lilac on each side of the fore-neck and chest, which have 
drooping plumes of narrow elongated white feathers; throat 
and fore-neck streaked with black ; on each side of the crop 
a large patch of purplish-black, continued along the sides of 
the body as far as the sides of the vent ; the sides of the 
body otherwise light ashy-grey ; thighs and under tail-coverts 
white; under wing-coverts ashy-grey; bill yellow, with the 
ridge of the upper mandible brown towards the end ; feet dull 
