The herons of this typical genus are of large size and except in plumage differ little from the members of Pyrrherodia but the bill is comparatively heavier and the claws much shorter; tarsus two to two and one-half times the length of hind toe with claw.
a1. Crown and neck white (gray in young); crest black. ... cinerea (p. 163) a2. Crown, neck, and crest gray similar to the rest of the plumage. ... sumatrana (p. 165)
Ardea cinerea Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 10 (1758), 1, 143; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1898), 26, 74; Hand-List (1899), 1, 194; Blanford, Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1898), 4, 382, fig. 84; Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902), 2, 113; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 32.
Guimaras (Steere Exp.). Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia.
"Adult in breeding plumage.--General color above light ashy gray, scapular plumes, parapteral feathers, and innermost secondaries elongated and forming narrow drooping plumes of pearly gray or white; the wing-coverts gray like back, the outer ones pearly gray or white, the greater series dark ashy, outer webs entirely white; alula, primary-coverts, and quills purplish black, secondaries shaded with gray externally, inner secondaries like back; tail-feathers entirely gray; crown of head crested, white in the center, with a broad band of purplish black on each side, ending in a crest on occiput, and having two elongated nuchal plumes; entire sides of face, neck all round, and under surface of body white, with a creamy lilac shade on each side of fore neck and chest, which have drooping plumes of narrow, elongated, white feathers; the whole of the lower throat and fore neck varied with elongated black stripes, differing in breadth and situated on one side of the feather; on each side of the crop is a large patch of drooping plumes of purplish black, and continued along the sides of the body even as far as the vent; sides of body light ashy gray; thighs and under tail-coverts white; under wing-coverts ashy gray. 'Bill yellow, with the ridge of the upper mandible brown towards the end; feet dull green; tibia yellow; claws black; iris yellow; bare space between the bill and the eye green.' (Macgillivray.) Length, 762; culmen, 129; wing, 457; tail, 183; tarsus, 173.