THE EUFF-KACKED CATTLE-EGRET. 
87 
Adult Pemale.—Similar to the male but with the ornamental 
plumes not so fully developed ; bill and hare skin about the 
sye bright chrome-yellow ; tibiae and tarsi pale yellow ; feet 
dusky-yellow. Total length, 18-5 inches; culmen, 2-3; wing, 
9'3; tail, 3-1 ; tarsus, 3'3. 
Winter Plumage. — Entirely pure white, with none of the orna- 
mental dorsal train-feathers or of the vinous colour on the 
crown or fore-neck. 
Young Birds.— Resemble the winter plumage of the adults and 
have no ornamental plumes. There is a slight tinge of rufous 
on the back. 
Kange in Great Britain.— Only one authentic occurrence of the 
T^uff-backed Heron within our limits is known, shot as long 
as October, 1805, as recorded by Montagu. It is now in 
'he Gallery of the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) at South Ken- 
sington. 
Range outside tlie British Islands. — The present species is a bird of 
Southern Europe, or rather of the Mediterranean countries, and 
seldom reaches Central Europe, though it has been recorded 
from the South of France, Hungary, the Danube, Poland, and 
Southern Russia. It is distributed in suitable localities through- 
out Africa, and its eastern range extends to Fao in the Persian 
Gulf, where it has been found by Mr. W. D. Cumming, whose 
specimens are in the British Museum. In the southern part 
of the Caspian Sea its place is said to be taken by the Indian 
Puff-backed Heron {Bubtilcus coronuindus), a species which is 
found throughout the Indian Peninsula and Ceylon, and ex- 
tends as far north as Corea and Japan, and as far south as 
Celebes and Timor in the Moluccas. 1 he birds of the 
Caspian I should have expected to belong to the European 
and not the Asiatic species. 
Haiiits. — Mr. Howard Saunders, who knows the species well 
from personal observation, says that it is very common in the 
marshes of Andalucia in Southern Spain, where thousands of 
individuals may be seen amongst, or on the backs of cattle, 
picking off ticks ; w'hence the name “ Purgabueyes,” meaning 
“ cattle-cleaners.” Lord Lilford also states that he has found 
the species “ in great abundance in the great marshes of the 
Guadalquivir below Seville during the summer. It breeds in 
