Ardea sumatrana Raffles, Trans. Linn. Soc. (1882), 13, 325; Sharpe,
Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1898), 26, 68; Hand-List (1899), 1, 194;
Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902), 2, 112; McGregor and Worcester,
Hand-List (1906), 32.
Bantayan (McGregor); Basilan (McGregor); Bohol (McGregor); Mindoro
(Porter); Negros (Keay); Palawan (Platen, Whitehead, Celestino,
White). Australia, Malay Peninsula, Sunda Islands, Celebes,
Aracan, Tenasserim.
"Adult male.--Above dull slaty gray, lower back and rump paler gray;
upper tail-coverts more dusky; scapulars with elongated plumes,
pearly white at the ends; wing-coverts and quills dark slaty gray,
with a slight greenish gloss on some of them; innermost secondaries
elongated and tipped with pearly white, like scapulars; tail-feathers
dark slate-color, slightly glossed with green; crown of head slaty
gray and crested, crest-feathers with dusky margins, and with some
long drooping plumes on nape, which are pearly white at the ends;
sides of face and hinder cheeks pale vinaceous-brown; fore part
of cheeks and upper throat white; neck all round slaty brown,
the feathers mostly elongated, and with a mesial streak of white
towards the ends; plumes on the fore neck similarly colored, but
very much elongated; remainder of under surface slaty gray, paler on
abdomen with longitudinal white centers to the feathers, these being
indistinct upon abdomen and under tail-coverts; on each side of upper
breast a large patch of slaty gray feathers, very slightly streaked
with white; under wing-coverts and axillars slaty gray with white
streaks; marginal feathers round bend of wing white. 'Bill black,
lower mandible yellowish white at base; legs and feet black, soles
faded yellow; iris pale orange.' (H. O. Forbes.) Length, about 1,143;
culmen, 173; wing, 465; tail, 155; tarsus, 170.
"Young.--Differs from the adult in having no elongated plumes,
and being everywhere browner; feathers of the upper surface tipped
with a rufous or sandy-buff spot; feathers of neck and under parts
vinaceous-rufous with mesial streaks of white, the whole under surface
very thickly streaked." (Sharpe.)
This is the very largest of Philippine herons and it may be known at
once by its almost uniform slate-gray color. In a male from Bohol
the iris was red; bill black, with some yellow on lower mandible;
legs and nails blackish brown. Wing, 440; tail, 170; culmen from
frontal feathers, 180; tarsus, 164; middle toe with claw, 126; hind
toe with claw, 77.
Genus MESOPHOYX Sharpe, 1894.
Of medium size; plumage all white and with long dorsal plumes during
the breeding season; primaries exceed the secondaries by length of
hind toe with claw; legs and feet black; toes long, culmen much less
than middle toe without claw.