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. Ardea sacra Gmelin, Syst. Nat. (1788), 1, pt. 2, 640. Demiegretta sacra Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1898), 26, 137; Hand-List (1899), 1, 198; Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902), 2, 122; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 33. Lepterodius sacer Blanford, Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1898), 4, 391, fig. 93. Ta-lá-bon, Ticao.