34 



ARDi;iD,E 



Adult MALK. — Gi'u, ral oilnur nhorr, iiicludinij ihf /rings and tail, Hg/it chestnut, dhjlitly ilarker 

 on the scnpular.i and back, "A/r of the iviny n'hite ; liase of tlie forehead and a narrow line of feathers 

 orer the eye white, narron-ly bordered above with pale cinnaman ; sides of head and neck pale cinnamon, 

 slightly darker on the hind- neck ; crown of the head and nape black, from the latter extend the long 

 narro/n nihite plnmes, bl<ickish at the tips : feathers Ixlou- the eye ivhite ; fore part of cheeks n-hite, 

 slightly tinged with pale cinnamon : chin and all the under surface white, the sides of the fore-neck 

 ■washed with pale cinnamon ; under tail-corerts white ; axillaries and nnder wing-coverts white, 

 some of the longer coverts washed u-ith pal: cinnamon at their tips : bill black, loirer portion of under 

 mandible yellowish-horn colour : bare skin around the eye and at the base of the bill greenish-yellow ; 

 legs and feet greenish-yellow, front of the toes pale brown, claws black. Total length in the Jlesh 2i 

 inches, tviug 11 '5, tail JfG, hill 3, tarsus o\'5. 



Adult ffmalk. — Similar in phunagr to the luah; but slightly smaller. 



D/s/nV/^/Zo;/.— North-western Australia, Northern Territory of South Australia, Queensland, 

 New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Central Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania. 

 |kN favourable situations the Nankeen Night Heron is generally distributed over the Australian 

 Jl continent, and is also found, but in far less numbers, in Tasmania. Of its ultra Australian 



range, the late Dr. K. B. Sharpe records 

 in the " Catalogue of Birds in the British 

 Museum," specimens from the Admiralty 

 and Pelew Islands, Celebes, the Moluccas 

 and New Caledonia. In Australia it is 

 more common on the eastern than the 

 western side of the continent. It frequents 

 the mangrove flats of the coast and 

 adjacent islets, the estuaries of tidal 

 waters, as well as the swamps, marshes, 

 lagoons, creeks and rivers far inland. 

 Nocturnal in habits, it inay be more 

 frequently seen just about dusk, congre- 

 gating in large flocks on some lofty tree, 

 preparatory to distributing themselves 

 over the feeding grounds. Large numbers 

 of young birds used to assemble in the 

 tea-trees bordering a small rush-covered 

 lagoon in the Botanic Gardens, near 

 Melbourne, and also on the topmost 

 branches of a huge Gum-tree growing 

 close to the water's edge. When almost 

 dark the arrival of a new comer was generally announced by a harsh croaking note from the 

 bird it attempted to dislodge from its roosting-place. As in the early days of settlement, it is 

 still an inhabitant of the neighbourhood of Sydney, specimens being more often obtamed at 

 Kandwick, Botany, Cook l^iver, Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers. For forty or fifty 

 years a breeding colony of these; birds used to frequent the densely foliaged pine trees in 

 the grounds of Elizabeth Bay House, Sydney Harbour, the residence of the late Sir William 

 J. Macleay, and about a mile from the city. On the 2nd August, igoi, while at the Linnean 

 Society Hall, which is erected on what 'was formerly part of the grounds of this domain, 

 Mr. J. J. Fletcher, the secretary, informed me that on an evening prior to one of the 

 Society's recent meetings he had counted eleven of these birds leave the trees for the mud-flats 

 of Rushcutter and Watson Bays, where they used to feed. Their harsh notes are still heard 



NANKKEN NlfiHT-IIKRON. 



