PEALE’S EGRET HERON. 
103 
brate, long and four-toed : the tarsus is always longer than the 
middle toe, sometimes barely so, sometimes a great deal: in some 
species the tibia is almost entirely naked, whilst in others it is on 
the contrary nearly all feathered: the toes are elongated, slender, 
narrowly bordered by a membrane, all unequal; the middle is con¬ 
nected to th£ outer one by a membrane that extends to the end 
of the first joint; the inner toe, a little shorter than the outer, is 
merely furnished with a very minute basal membrane : the hind 
toe is long, half equal to the middle one, and all bearing on the 
ground, being inserted opposite to the inner toe : the nails are 
compressed, falcate, the hind one largest: the middle one is 
dilated on the inside into a pectinated sharp edge. The coverings 
of the tarsi are transversely clypeate, the upper and lower clypei 
being scutelliform, the opisotarsus and knee are covered with 
small hexagonal scales; the toes are scutellated. These various 
forms of the scales are represented with inimitable accuracy by 
Mr. Lawson in the plate of Peale’s Egret. The wings are broad, 
obtuse, tuberculated, the three outer primaries being longest, and 
the third hardly shorter than the two first. The tail is short and 
obtuse, and composed of ten or twelve feathers. The feathers of 
the lower neck before in the adult bird are pendulous, elongated, 
mostly acuminate, narrow, or ragged : on the occiput and back 
they are in many species elongated, sericeous, either linear, or 
laciniate-lacerated, seldom dense, oblong or rounded at the end; 
the neck is bare at base on the sides, but concealed by a tuft of 
longish plumes originating at the shoulders : the neck-feathers in 
some species are short and closely pressed to the body; in others 
they are softer, longer, especially on the sides, and woolly at 
base : the tail-feathers are always rounded at the end; those of 
the lower parts of the body are longish with the webs disjoined, 
and the barbs plumulose at base: the down is silky. 
The females are like the males : the young are different from 
