before taking up the species which mdre immedhnply forms «Étr
subject,'1 think it proper to fix all the species olfllgrets of which
I have a perfect knowledge. These are :—
1. Jirdea alba, L. {Jirdea jEgretta, Temm. Jirdea Candida, Brjss.)
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-oOrneous colour
of t i e legs. It is well figured by Naumann, Vbgv Naehtr. tab. 4%
f. 91, and the young by Roux, Ornithologie Provençale, pï. 314
. (under the name of Egretta). It inhabits Europe, especially the
Oriental ' p arts, and is very common in the Caspian sea* in Asiatic
Turkey; &c. •
2 . Tbesecond species is Jirdea Egretta, Gmel. Lath. {Jirdea
leuce, Temm.) the one figured by Wilson, whose tall stature allows
fSt-ito.-be confounded with the preceding, from which, howtfttik.
may be readily distinguished by its perfectly smooth M^wJpts
light orange and shorter bill, and black legs. It is .found both in
North an|l South America, being mentioned lÿ d’Azar a, and we
have ourS^ves received it from Surinam.
8. The third is Jirdea flavirostrisi 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 yellow
bill, froia the Aipericaii by its small crest. It is ij|nnd in
Southern Africa and the Australian Islands.
. 4. The fourth Egret in point of statitre is the one we are
treating of^well distinguished by its bill, which is flesh-colour at;
base, besidlwthe different texture of the ornamental feathers.
As a fifth species we shall cite the Jirdea candidissima of Wilson,
which is the analogue of the Jirdea Garzetta of Europe, figured b y
Roux, Orn. l’rov. pi. 315. Both these are alike.in stdtffre and
dimensions, and differ only, as is well known, by the crest, which;
in the latter consists of but two or thrêe elongated, narrow, subulate
feathers';,while in tfteKAmerican the crest is formed of
numerous elonglüed pendulous feathers, with loose flowing barbs.
Specimens that; we have'-r'eceiyed' front Java under the name óf
Jirdea nigripeÊMemm; we consider as the young of Jl. Garzetta^
and are confira^d'i^'A&v-apmion^by-the- feet ©f young birds that
wfe possess óf the Antbljiean candidissima that stand precisely in
the ■ sam$; relatibhto this nigripes&bm ,
to the Garzetta * ■
The- fam ily of the Iterodii, Ctctfrirostres, or JÊrdeidse, especially
when;the. group Gruinse'k withdrawn, andr-restricting it to our
iovwter'Jkdeihse, is a<highly.natufajl ónfeÉtót, still* comprises, it is
true, many aberrant genera, birds o f pecniaejprms, and remarkable
for' their strainge and oddly shaped bills, though stitf dot so
far different-as to rank them more property with any otbie# e&i®?
and iiteheir general structure, as well as their habits and dispo-
sitio^^Too .muph ideljgiffedf with tapfe t# jöstafy their separation
ifitó an ^independent family. But the Gruihae, o£ which the Grane
Isf the'type,shear' a strong analogy, and even in-many respects
so, much affinity to the Gallinaceousj|Mrds, having shorter fee%
vegetable' food, and even their hab^ybeing terrestrial, that we
think proper to unite them as a subdiyisiontiSr subfamily with- the
AlectridmL • The artificial characteniftlhioh, as we are not how
treating ,of them, is all that need be mentioned,) by 'which they
may fi&at once distinguished from-the consists in having
the hind toe short, and inserted; so high'up as tó be: raised from
the ground except merely at the tip-; while in th e ’Jlrdeidae' it is
long and bears with its whole length on the ground, or nearly seH
But as, according to the axiom of the great Linné, the character
does nofeconstitute the genus, even if the most general arid
* I have la tely b e sn inforriiea o f th é d isc o v ery o f two n ew Eüropean s p e c i e s o f E g r e ts ,
one from Sardinia, th e other from M o ld a v ia , o f'w h ich th e nanies and. characters'm-e not
' yeti given.