QUA BIRD, OR AMERICAN NIGHT HERON. 57 



winter quarters, though a few of the young birds still linger 

 occasionally to the SOth or 30th of that month. The food 

 of this species consists chiefly of small fish, which it collects 

 in the twilight, or towards night, and in the wide gullet, 

 which commences at the immediate base of the bill, they 

 probably collect a supply for the use of their young. 



In the month of October, I obtained two specimens of the 

 young Night Heron, in their second plumage ; these were so 

 extremely fat, that the stomach was quite buried in cakes of it 

 like tallow. Their food had been Ulva latissima, small fish, 

 grasshoppers, and a few coleopterous insects ; so that at this 

 cool season of the year, these birds had ventured out to 

 hunt their fare through the marsh by day, as well as evening. 

 In the stomach of one of these birds, towards its upper ori- 

 fice, were parasitic worms, like taenia. About the time of 

 their departure, the young, in their plumbeous dress, asso- 

 ciate together early in the morning, and proceed in flocks, 

 either wholly by themselves, or merely conducted by one 

 or two old birds in a company. 



The American Night Heron is 28 inches or upwards in length ; and 

 the alar extent is 4 feet. Bill black. 4^ inches from the rictus. Lores 

 pale greenish-yellow ; (bluish white, Wilson.) Eyelids large and bare, 

 of a deep purplish blue. Iris blood red. Crested crown and hind- 

 head, deep dark blue, with a green reflection. Front and line over 

 the eye, white. Occipital feathers 3, sometimes 4, pure white, and 

 between 8 and 9 inches long ; these are so closely incumbent, as when 

 at rest, to appear only like a single feather. Lower parts white, 

 stained with yellowish cream color. Back and scapulars tinged with 

 a shade of tl>e dark green of the head. Rump, tail-coverts, wings 

 and tail, pale ash. Legs yellowish-green, (yellow cream color, Wil- 

 son.) Inside of the middle claw serrated. — The ijoung bird measures 

 about 21 inches in length, and is above of a deep brown, streaked 

 with rufous white, the spots of white on the back and wings are 

 triangular. Quills dusky, marked on their tips with a spot of white. 

 Belly with the feathers pale dusky, streaked down their centres with 

 white. Iris, orange. Legs and feet, light green. \\\\he progressive 

 change which the yoking undergo before their departure, some are, 



