MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGT. 359 



tree, but often several pairs breed near eacb otber. Young, a third 

 grown, were met with as early as the 12th of March. This species 

 breeds while in immature plumage, young females being found mated 

 with adult males, and vice versa. The only very appreciable external 

 sexual difference is that of size, the males, as is generally the case in 

 this* family, being much larger than the females. 



141.* Florida cserulea Baird. Small Blue Heron. 

 Common. 



142.* Ardetta exilis Gray. Little Bittern. 

 Not common. 



I43.t Botaurus lentiginosus Stephens. Bittern 

 Very common at some localities. 



144.* Butorides virescens Bonaparte. Green Heron. 

 Not uncommon. Smaller than northern specimens, the Florida 

 examples being intermediate in size between those from New Eng- 

 land and the West Indies, the latter of which are usually regarded as a 

 distinct species, under the name of B. brunnescem. They also de- 

 cidedly approach the West Indian type in coloration. 



145* Nycticorax griseus Gray. Night Heron. 



Ardea nycticorax Linne, Syst Nat., I, 235. — Wilson, Audubon, Nuttall, 

 Bonaparte etc. 



Ardea grisea Linne, Syst. Nat., I, 239, 1766. 



Ardea Gardeni Gmelin, Syst. Nat., I, 644, 1788. 



Nycticorax europaus Steph., Gen. Zool., XI, 609, pi. xlvii. 



Nycticorax americana Bonap., Geog. and Comp. List, 48, 1838. 



Nycticorax Gardeni Jardine, Notes to Wilson's Orn. — Bonap., Conspectus 

 Gen. Avium, II, 141, 1855. 



Nyctiardea Gardeni Baird, Birds N. Am., 678, 1858, and subsequent Ameri- 

 can authors. 



I did not observe this species on the St. John's, but Mr. Maynard 

 found it more or less common on Indian River and Mosquito Lagoon. 

 Mr. Boardman gives it as "not rare." It is said to be resident the 

 Whole year in Florida, by Audubon. 



Having compared specimens of the American night heron with others 

 from various parts of the Old World, I see no jeason for considering them 

 specifically distinct, though so considered by all American and some Euro- 

 pean ornithologists. The differences between them are scarcely appreciable. 



