QUA BIRD, OR AMERICAN NIGHT HERON. 



(Ardcii ^discors, Jl. nycticorax, Wilson, vii. p. 103.pl. CI. fig. 2. 

 [adult,] and fig. 3. [young.] Phil. Museum, No. 3728. and young, 

 3729.) 



Sp. Charact. — Whitish ; crown greenish black ; upper part of the 

 back with a faint tinge of dusky green ; the 3 occipital feathers 

 pure white. Length of the bird 28 inches. — Autumnal hixAvfWh- 

 out the occipital feathers — The Young, as soon as feathered, 

 brown, streaked with rufous white, beneath dark grey wuth whitish 

 stripes ; wing and tail feathers dark grey, the former with a spot 

 of white at the tips ; no occipital feathers. 



The Great Niglit Heron of America, extends its migra- 

 tions probably to the northern and eastern extremities of the 

 United States, but is wholly unknown in the high boreal 

 regions of the continent. In the winter it proceeds as far 

 south as the tropics, having been seen in the marshes of 

 Cayenne, and their breeding stations are known to extend 

 from New Orleans to Massachusetts. They arrive in Penn- 



