98 
PEALE’S EGRET HERON. 
before taking up the species which more immediately forms our 
subject, I think it proper to fix all the species of Egrets of which 
I have a perfect knowledge. These are :— 
1. Jlrdea alba , L. ( Jlrdea Egretta, Temm. Jlrdea Candida, Briss.) 
which can easily be distinguished by its large stature, combined 
with a small crest, (which is wholly wanting in the American,) a 
much longer bill and longer tarsi, and the fusco-corneous colour 
of the legs. It is well figured by Naumann, Yog. Nachtr. tab. 46, 
f. 91, and the young by Roux, Ornithologie Proven^ale, pi. 314 
(under the name of Egretta). It inhabits Europe, especially the 
Oriental parts, and is very common in the Caspian sea, in Asiatic 
Turkey, &c. 
2. The second species is Jlrdea Egretta, Gmel. Lath. ( Jlrdea 
leuce, Temm.) the one figured by Wilson, whose tall stature allows 
it to be confounded with the preceding, from which, however, it 
may be readily distinguished by its perfectly smooth head, its 
light orange and shorter bill, and black legs. It is found both in 
North and South America, being mentioned by d’Azara, and we 
have ourselves received it from Surinam. 
3. The third is Jlrdea flavirostris, Temm. not yet figured. A 
smaller bird, with black legs also, at once known from its two 
above-mentioned close analogues; from the European by its yel¬ 
low bill, from the American by its small crest. It is found in 
Southern Africa and the Australian Islands. 
4. The fourth Egret in point of stature is the one we are 
treating of, well distinguished by its bill, which is flesh-coloui at 
base, besides the different texture of the ornamental feathers. 
As a fifth species we shall cite the Jlrdea candidissima of Wilson, 
which is the analogue of the Jlrdea Garzetta of Europe, figured by 
Roux, Orn. Prov. pi. 315. Both these are alike in stature and 
dimensions, and differ only, as is well known, by the crest, which 
in the latter consists of but two or three elongated, narrow, subu- 
