Part 64

"Adult female.--Similar to the male, but the ornamental plumes not so much developed.

"Adults in winter plumage.--Pure white, but losing the ornamental plumes altogether. 'Bill yellow, with blackish tip.' (Oates.)

"Young.--Entirely like the adults in winter plumage; the texture of the plumage soft and downy, and devoid of ornamental plumes." (Sharpe.)

"Comparatively rare and very shy. Fairly abundant about the Laguna de Naujan in Mindoro." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

Genus HERODIAS Boie, 1822.

Of very large size and plumage entirely pure white.

138. HERODIAS TIMORIENSIS (Lesson).

TIMOR WHITE EGRET.

Ardea timoriensis Lesson, Traité d'Orn. (1831), 575. Herodias timoriensis Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1898), 26, 98; Hand-List (1899), 1, 195; Mearns, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. (1905), 18, 89; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 33.

Luzon (McGregor); Mindanao (Mearns). Northern China and Japan to Australia.

Adult male in breeding plumage.--"Entirely pure white; a bunch of elongated plumes on the back scarcely reaching beyond the tail. 'Bill beautiful orange; naked space before and behind the eye fine greenish yellow; legs above the knee pale dull yellow, this color continued down the center of the inner part of the tarsi; remainder of tarsi and feet black.' (Gould.) Length, 762; culmen, 112; wing, 381; tail, 160; tarsus, 132 to 162." (Sharpe.)

The following data are from the Luzon specimen which I have recorded: Killed on the Laguna de Bay, Luzon, March 16, 1906. Sexed by the taxidermist as a male. Entire legs and feet black; bill yellow. Dorsal plumes reaching little beyond base of tail, the bird being in rather poor plumage. Tarsus, 159; bill from gape, 140; culmen from frontal feathers, 114. This species is the largest as well as the rarest of the pure white herons known from the Philippine Islands.

Genus EGRETTA Forster, 1817.

This genus appears to be closely related to Mesophoyx but the bill is longer and more slender; toes and claws shorter; culmen longer than middle toe with claw, primaries and secondaries about equal in length.

139. EGRETTA GARZETTA (Linnæus).

LITTLE WHITE EGRET.

Ardea garzetta Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 12 (1766), 1, 237. Garzetta garzetta Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1898), 26, 118; Hand-List (1899), 1, 197; Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902), 2, 120. Herodias garzetta Blanford, Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1898), 4, 387, fig. 91. Egretta garzetta McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 33.

Ta-ling-daó, Cagayancillo.

Basilan (McGregor); Bohol (Everett, McGregor); Cagayancillo (McGregor); Cebu (McGregor); Leyte (Everett); Lubang (McGregor); Luzon (Jagor, Everett, Heriot, Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Mindanao (Steere Exp., Goodfellow); Mindoro (Porter); Negros (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Keay); Panay (Bourns & Worcester); Romblon (McGregor); Siquijor (Bourns & Worcester). Africa, southern Europe to central Asia, China, Japan, Indian Peninsula, Malay Peninsula and Archipelago.

"Adult male in breeding plumage.--Everywhere snowy white, with two elongated plumes depending from nape; dorsal plumes enormously elongated into a beautiful tuft of feathers, which reach a little beyond the tail and are recurved at the ends; on the fore neck some elongated narrow plumes. 'Bill black; bare skin about the eye and base of bill, whitish fulvescent; tarsi and shanks black, feet greenish yellow, joints of toes spotted with black on the upper surface; iris pale ashy yellow, with an outer circle of brownish red.' (T. Ayres.) Length, about 508; culmen, 84; wing, 267; tail, 70; tarsus, 94.

"Adult female.--Similar to the male, but the ornamental plumes not quite so much developed. Length, 571; culmen, 88; wing, 287; tail, 99; tarsus, 95; middle toe with claw, 93.

"Adult in winter plumage.--Differs from that of the summer plumage in the want of all the ornamental plumes.

"Young.--Resembling the winter plumage of the adult." (Sharpe.)

The lesser and little white egrets are birds of wide distribution, usually found singly along sandy shores or in the vicinity of mangrove swamps.

Genus DEMIGRETTA Blyth, 1846.

In size of body and proportional size of bill, legs, and feet this genus is very similar to Egretta but the legs are feathered nearer to the heel and the plumage is normally slate-blue.

140. DEMIGRETTA SACRA (Gmelin).

BLUE REEF HERON.