156 Mr. E. L. Layard on the Ornithology of Fiji. 
under plumage suffused with delicate pink, which is visible 
even under the delicate grey of the back; it extends over the 
underside of the wings. An outer tail-feather, just growing, 
is a rich pink, deepest near the root, the shaft is also pink; 
this fades as the feather grows older and more elongated; 
outer vane of first wing-primary jet-black. 
Shot on the reef at Ovalau, October 4th, 1875, by my son. 
Stomach contained bones and scales of small fish. Other 
specimens have since been obtained and seen; and on the 
10th of October I saw what I am convinced were three ex¬ 
amples of Anous cinereus (Neboux). I believe that visits to 
the Yassawas and low-lying islands to windward would add 
largely to the list of sea-fowl inhabiting Fiji. I obtained A. 
cinereus abundantly, nearly twenty years ago, on the coral 
islands to the N.E. of Madagascar. 
Ardea sacra, Gmel. 
A reference to the synonyms of this bird, given by Drs. 
Finsch and Hartlaub in their f Fauna Central-Polynesiens/ 
and Jerdon’s f Birds of India 3 (vol. iii. p. 748), shows the 
confusion that exists as to the identity of the Indian and Aus¬ 
tralian birds. 
I perceive that Jerdon says, on my authority, that the 
young birds are white. I have not my notes of Ceylon birds 
with me; but if I remember rightly, after so many years, I 
found it breeding near Tangalle in tolerable plenty. 
I have just obtained (2nd November) a pair of young 
ones, male and female, from the nest, of the species that in¬ 
habits these islands; and they are dark s/afe-coloured—much 
blacker and glossier , in fact, than a slate-coloured bird in full 
plumage, although long filaments of white down still remain 
on the head &c. Europeans and natives assure me that they 
breed in both phases of plumage, and that sometimes a white 
bird will be mated with a blue one. 
It nests indifferently on rocks, on the ground, or in the 
mangrove or other trees that line the sea-shore. 
Now, if the Indian bird is always white when young, and 
our bird is s/ctfe-coloured, may not that fact indicate that the 
