“Rather rare and very shy. Usually seen soaring at great heights. Occasionally met with perching on dead trees, or wading about the rice-fields.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
Suborder ARDEÆ.
Family ARDEIDÆ.
Bill generally slender, straight, and compressed; culmen slightly curved near its tip; tarsus covered with transverse plates or large hexagonal scales; toes long; claws well developed, usually sharp and curved; hind toe well developed, its claw larger than claw of middle toe, the latter pectinate.
Genera.
- a1. Rectrices twelve.
- b1. Bare portion of tibio-tarsus equal
to or exceeding the inner toe with claw.
- c1. Middle toe with claw as long as tarsus or longer; claw of hind toe more than half the length of hind toe itself and but slightly curved; plumage variegated, never white. Pyrrherodia (p. [162])
- c2. Middle toe with claw shorter than
tarsus; claw of hind toe curved; plumage nearly uniform slate-gray or
largely white.
- d1. Edge of mandibles distinctly serrated, a faintly indicated notch near tip of upper mandible.
- d2. Edge of mandible not serrated; a distinct subterminal notch in upper mandible.
- b2. Bare portion of tibio-tarsus less
than inner toe; feathering sometimes extending nearly to the heel.
- c1. Bill without serrations in either
mandible; upper mandible with a distinct notch just before the end.
- d1. Culmen longer than tarsus, the latter longer than middle toe; plumage very dark slate-color. Demigretta (p. [168])
- d2. Culmen not longer than tarsus; two or three elongated nape plumes.
- c2. Bill with distinct serrations near its end, sometimes only the upper mandible serrated; subterminal notch obsolete.
- c1. Bill without serrations in either
mandible; upper mandible with a distinct notch just before the end.
- b1. Bare portion of tibio-tarsus equal
to or exceeding the inner toe with claw.
- b1. Exposed culmen equal to or more than middle toe without claw; size much smaller; wing less than 220 mm.
- b2. Exposed culmen much less than middle toe without claw; size much greater; wing more than 260 mm. Botaurus (p. [183])
- a2. Rectrices ten; plumage more or less mottled or streaked, never white.
Genus PYRRHERODIA Finsch and Hartlaub, 1870.
This genus of large herons is distinguished by having the claws very long; hind toe contains its claw one and two-thirds times; tarsus contains the hind toe with claw one and one-half times.