1887.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 295 



NYCTICORAX Forster. 



1817. — Xycticorax Forster, Synopt. Cat. Brit. B., p. 59 (type iV. iufaustus Forst.= 

 A. nycticorax LiNN.). 



18S7.—Xyctiardea Swainson, Classif. B., II, p. 354 (same type). 



WiO.—Scotaeus Keyserlixg & Blasius, Wirbelth. Eur., I, p. 220 (same type.) 



lSi2. -XiicU-rodius* Macgillivray, Mau. Brit. Orn., II, p. 126 (same type) {nee 

 Reichenb., 1852.) 



At least two species of Night Herons occur in Japan, inasmuch as 

 the Bonin Islands are inhabited hj a species entirely different from the 

 common Gray Night Heron. The status of the Bonin bird is, however^ 

 extremely uncertain, a question to be discussed more fully under the 

 head of that species. It may be sufficient to remark here that the two 

 species may be easily distinguished as follows : 



aK Primaries gray; adults with the back glossy blackish greeu N. nycticorax. 



a-'. Primaries rufous; adults with the back rufous iV". crasslrostris 



(128.) Nycticorax nycticorax (Lin.). 

 Gray Night Heron. Seguro-goi. 



17r)8.—Ardea nycticorax Linn., S. N., 10 ed., I, p. 142.— M, S. N., 12 ed., I, p. 235 (1766).— 



Temm, & SCHLEG., Fauna Jap. Aves, p. 116 (1849).— Schleg., Mus. P-Baa 



Ardeas, p. 56 (1863).— Nycticorax n. BoiE, Isis, 1822, p. 560. 

 1762.— Alcedo (egyptia Hasselquist, Reise Paliest., p. 300. 

 l7Qii.—Ardea grisea Linn., S. N., 12 ed., I, p. 239.— Nycticorax g. Swinhoe, Ibis, 1877, 



p. 146.— Blakist. & Pkyer, Ibis, 1878, p. 223.— lid., Tr. As. Soc. Jap., VIII, 



1880, p. 198.— iW., ibid., X, 1882, p. 117.— Blakist., Amend. List B.Jap., p. 



24 (1884). 

 1771.— Ardea kwakwa S. G. Gmelin, Nov. Comm. Petrop., XV (p. 452, pi. xiv). 

 1771. — Ardea ferruyinea S. G. Gmelin, Nov. Comm. Petrop., XV (p. 456, pi. xvi). 

 1788.— ^rrfm maculata Gmelin, S. N., I, ii, p. 645. 

 1817. — Nycticorax infaustas Forster, Synopt. Cat. Brit. B., p. 59. 

 1819. — Nycticorax enropwas Stephens, Gen. Zool., XI, ii (p. 609). 

 1828. — Nycticorax vulgaris Hempr. & Ehrknb., Symb. Phys., Aves (fol. m), 

 1828. — Nycticorax Precipes Hempr. & Ehrenb., Symb. Phys., Aves (fol. m). 

 1831. — Nycticorax orientalis Brehm, Haudb. Vog. Deutschl., p. 592. 

 lc)31. — Nycticorax tarfnis Brehm, Handb. Vog. Deutschl., p. 592. 

 1831. — Nycticorax meridionalis Brehm, Handb. Vog. Deutschl., p. 593. 

 1835. — Nycticorax ardeola Temminck, Man. d'Orn., 2 ed., Ill, p. lii. — Id.,ihid., IV, p. 



384 (1840). 

 1852. — Nycticorax gesneri Reichenbach, Syst. Av., p. xvi. 

 1856. — Scotaeus gutiatus Heuglin, Syst. Uebers. (p. 59). 

 1877, — ^ Ardea goisaga McVean, Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc. Edinb., 1877, j). — , extr., p. 7 



{nee N. goisagi Temm.). 



The only adult Japanese bird before me agrees well with European 

 specimens as regards size, but it is considerably darker. The sides of 

 the head and neck, the flanks, axillaries, and the under wing-cov- 

 erts are of a dark smoke-gray, and the upper surface of the wing is 



* It will be seen that this name antedates Nyctherodius Reichenbach by ten years. 

 As no other generic name seems available for the Yellow-crowned Night Heron {Ardea 

 ciolacea Linn.), I propose Nyctanassa {vv^, night, ava?ia, queen) as a new name for 

 this type, which should stand as Nyctanassa violacea. 



