ARDEID.E — THE HERONS — NYCTICOEAX. 57 



With five adult examples for comparison, we have been equally unsuccessful in discoverinfr 

 differences between European birds of this species and those from America, beyond the slightly 

 smaller size of the former, there being no difference whatever, that we can see, in plumage. We 

 have not, however, seen among European specimens those dark-colored examples which occur now 

 and then in America. 



A nearly adult specimen from tlie Sandwich Islands (No. 41951 ; Waimea Kaui ; V. Knudsen), 

 is very similar in colors to No. 49040 (typical obscurus) from Chili ; it is smaller, however, and 

 lighter-colored beneath ; it is also more adult, and, besides possessing the occipital plumes, has 

 the forehead distinctly white. A young bird from the same locality (No. 41952) agrees strictly 

 with American specimens of the same age. 



A young specimen from Lake Titicaca (24278, M. C. Z.) differs from Nortli American 

 examples in darker colors. 



The following table of measurements, giving the extremes in each series, may serve to show 

 the difference in size between specimens of this species from various countries, as indicated by the 

 series before us : — 



The Night Heron — "Qua-bird," or " Quak," as this Heron is called in different 

 parts of the country — is distributed over the entire continent, from the Arctic Circle, 

 on the extreme northw-est, to the opposite extreme of South America. And if we 

 regard our American bird as clearly a race of, and hardly varying from, the European 

 bird, it must claim to be cosmopolitan in the largest sense, since it is known to occur 

 in nearly all parts of the globe. It is resident throughout Central America, and 

 breeds in all portions where the situation is favorable. It was found breeding at 

 Belize and at Cmoa by Mr. Leyland. Mr. G. C. Taylor mentions its presence at 

 Fonseca Bay, in Honduras. It was found at Parana, among the reeds of the lagoons, 

 and on the islands of the river, by Dr. Burmeister ; and Captain C. C. Abbott, in his 

 paper on the Birds of the Falkland Islands (" Ibis," 1861), states that when he was in 

 Hope Place, in December, 1859, he visited one of the breeding-places of this Heron. 

 The places selected for laying were the tufts of grass near a freshwater pond, the 

 whole of one side of wdiich was covered with them. In some of the nests, which 

 were composed of a few^ coarse sticks, were young birds half grown ; in others eggs, 

 three in number, some fresh, others with largely developed embryos. There could 

 not have been less than a hundred pairs on the spot, and they were so tame and 

 unsuspicious that they had evidently never been disturbed. 



In Europe the Night Heron has apparently less of a northern range than the 

 American form. It is rare in England, where less than a dozen stragglers are 

 kno-svn to have been taken since 1782, when the first recorded specimen was pro- 

 cured ; and it is still more rare in Ireland and in Scotland. It is found, more or less 

 abundantly, in the warmer parts of Europe, Asia, and in Africa throughout the entire 

 region, even as far as the Cape of Good Hope. It is said to inhabit Nepal, as also 

 the country about Calcutta, and to be found in China and Japan. 



The Night Heron is found abundantly, and breeds, in most of the West India 

 Islands, especially in Cuba, Jamaica, and Trinidad. In the latter it is very abundant 



VOL. I. — 8 



