Sandra wrote, asking about the latin names of egrets:

>For example, there is the bird they [New Zealanders] call the White Heron
(Egretta alba)
(Collins Birds of New Zealand, ca1981). Is it the same species as our
Great Egret (Casmerodious albus in Peterson's Western Birds 1990, and in
Birds of BC Vol. I 1990, and in The Birder's Handbook by Ehrlich et.al.
1988).
Howell & Webb (1995) in Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern
Central America give the Latin name for Great Egret as Egretta alba
egretta.>

I see what you mean about this problem, Sandra. My bird guides to Australia
and New Guinea also contain Egretta alba, the "Great Egret." But my
Clement's World List on Birdbase III has no Egretta alba. If I look up the
common name "Great Egret," it gives me Casmerodius albus.

Chris Maack
Anchorage, AK
CMaack at compuserve.com