270 



KEY AND DESCRIPTION 



When feeding the young, 

 the}' may be seen gather- 

 ing food in the daytime. 

 (Quawk.) 



Length, 24 ; wing, 12 (11-13); 

 tail, 5 ; tarsus, 3| ; culnien, 3. 

 America; breeding north to 

 Ontario and Manitoba, and win- 

 tering from the Clulf States to 

 southern South America. 



1 4 . Yellow-crowned Night 

 Heron (203. Xycticorax vio- 

 I i^i r (' H s). — A CO m ni o n. 

 mvsted and jdunied, stout- 

 iiilU'thnight-ttying, grayish- 

 lihie heron with a buffy 

 irown, white cheeks and 

 isi.iik-crowiied Might Hcr,u mainly white plumes on an 



otherwise black head. The 



neck and lower parts are lighter than the back. The long, 



loose feathers of the back 



extend beyond the tail. 



The colors of the young are 



mottled browns and there 



are no head plumes. These 



birds are solitary in their 



habits and are never seen 



in colonies like the last 



species. They are found 



singly or in pairs along the 



borders of wooded streams, and 



birds than the black-crowned night heron. 



Length, 22-28; wing, 12 (10^-12 J); tail, 5; tarsus, 4; culmen, 2J. 

 Tropical and warm temperate Xorth America, north to the Carolinas, 

 lower Oliio Valley and Lower California, casually to Massachusetts and 

 Colorado ; breeding throughout its United States range. 



Yellow-crowned Night Heron 



are less strictly nocturnal 



