418 Mr. R. Swinhoe on Formosan Ornithology . 
the eye. Legs black, the toes clayey ochre, with a tinge of 
greenish; claws and the scutes adjoining black.” 
157. Herodias eulophotes, Swinhoe, Ibis, 1860, p. 64. 
This species, which I first discovered and noted as a rare bird 
at Amoy, was pretty common on the Tamsuy river, being fre¬ 
quently seen in parties of four and five, and occasionally in com¬ 
pany with the H. garzetta. They are never to be met with in 
very large flocks. They nest, in company with the common 
species, on the branches of trees ; at least, I have watched them in 
the same heronries, though I have never succeeded in taking their 
eggs. In confinement they object to the approach of strangers, 
starting back and ruffling their feathers, and pecking with savage¬ 
ness at the hand put coaxingly forward. This and the H. garzetta 
feed almost entirely on fish, shrimps, and Squills ; whereas the 
Yellowhead ( Buphus coromandus) and all the Ardetta group are 
to a great extent omnivorous. I have kept alive most of the 
Ardeidce that occur in China, and I have noticed that the Egrets 
would pine away unless small fresh fish were constantly supplied 
to them : they would not take flesh or bread as a substitute. All 
the others, Ardea cinerea included, would make a meal off bread 
and meat when fish failed. I procured both males and females 
of this species at Tamsuy. The female is a little larger, but 
they are not otherwise to be distinguished. 
This Egret has a fine clear yellow bill in summer, becoming 
tinged with brown in winter. Its cere is tinged with green and 
purple; its irides light pearly yellow. Its legs are in summer black, 
in winter greenish brown; its feet and claws are greenish yellow. 
From H. garzetta it can at all seasons be distinguished by its 
light and shorter bill, and by its much shorter legs; but in 
summer its fine full crest marks it at once as different, as well 
as the scantiness of the dorsal plumes, which do not, as in that 
species, exceed the tail, and turn feathering upwards. It has 
considerably more affinity with H. candidissima of America; 
but that bird is of different proportions, and has a black bill 
and feet. This bird, in common with most of the Heron tribe, 
loses it crest early in August; and the other nuptial plumes are 
then much worn and scanty, and soon drop away. The breeding- 
season is then over. 
