60 ALTEICIAL GRALLATORES — HERODIONES. 



loud guttural croak always deterring them from coming too near. He was not afraid 

 of the family ; and though he did not like to be handled, would never run away 

 to avoid it, but would come at call, even from a distance, evincing disappointment 

 Avlien no food was given him. The following illustrates his tenacity to first impres- 

 sions. He was once caught wandering off to a neighboring spring for frogs, and 

 driven back to the barnyard. In his path was a cart — an obstacle which it was 

 necessary to go round — Avhile beyond it Avas a pile of rubbish, over which he half 

 flew. This was repeated three or four times. Afterward, the cart and the rubbish 

 having been removed, the bird, when driven home from his wanderings, persisted in 

 making a circuit around the spot where the cart had formerly stood, and in giving a 

 flying leap over the place Avhere once the pih^ had previously made this necessary. 

 This amusing performance he would always go through Avith, and he was occasionally 

 made to repeat it for the entertainment of visitors. Once in a while he Avould stray 

 off into Stony Brook, at a point where it floAved past several houses, and Avould fish 

 for himself. On one occasion, his hoarse gurgling cries created an alarm in the 

 settlement, and the river Avas searched at midnight for the supposed drowning indi- 

 A^idual ; and our pet Avas in some danger of its OAvn life before the real cause of the 

 alarm had been ascertained. It readily endured the cold of one Avinter ; but an 

 unusually severe night in the second Avinter killed the bird before it had assumed 

 its mature plumage. 



Three eggs of this species, taken by Mr. Harold Herrick in a heronry at Chettam, 

 iST. J., are almost exactly oval in shape, equally tapering at either end, and uni- 

 formly Avashed Avith a bright, light greenish blue — a light Avash of Prussian blue 

 Avith green shadings. These three eggs measure, respectively, 2.32 by 1.53 inches ; 

 2.10 by 1.48 inches; and 2.00 inches by 1.44, — shoAving a remarkable variation in 

 size. These Avere taken May 30, 1873. 



Genus NYCTHERODIUS, IIeichenbach. 



Nydherodhis, Reichenb. HaiuU). Oni. (Natuil. Syst. Vijg. in Systeiaa Avium), 1851, \t. xvi. (type, 



Ardca violacea, Linn.). 

 Nycticorax, Boie (part), Isis, 1826, 979 (type, Ardca violacea, Linn.). 



. Gen. Char. Medium-sized Herons, of short, thick build ; the bill extremely thick and stout, 

 with both outlines strongly convex ; the legs long and slender ; the dorsal plumes mnch elongated 

 and very narrow, reaching bej'ond the tail ; the occiput (in adult) with se\'eral extremely long, 

 linear white feathers. Habits nocturnal. 



Bill short and very stout, the culnien curved regularly from the base, the gonys decidedly con- 

 A'cx and very much ascending ; ^ maxillary tomiuni almost perfectly straight throughout, but 

 appreciably concave anteriorly, Avith a barely perceptible convexity toward the base ; niandiljuhu- 

 tumium nearly straiglit, but perceptibly concave anteriorly.- Mental apex less than half Avay from 

 centre of eye to end of bill, and about even with anterior end of nostril ; .apex of malar region a 

 little posterior to the frontal apex. Tarsi long and slender, exceedinL,^ the middle toe by more than 



1 The lower outline of the bill is, in fact, more decidedly convex than the ujiper. 



2 Wc find considerable variation among individuals in respect to these outlines: thus, a specimen ($ 

 adult, No. 2759, Mus. R.R.) from Illinois has the niniidibular toniium exactly straight to near the end, 

 where it gradually ascends to the tij), thereby producing a very slight suljterminal roncavity ; in No. 2758, 

 another adult 9 '''"™ Oie saini' locality, it is decidedly convex in the middle portion ; while in an adult 

 $, from Mazatlan (No. 58S11), it is decidedly co?ic«rc at the same place, — so much so, in fact, that a 

 space is left between it and the upper tomium, on e;udi side, when the bill is closed tight ! These dis- 

 crepancies, however, do not affect the general form of the l)ill, which is eminently characteristic. 



