356 Dr. A. Hall on the Mammals and Birds 



bluish asli; vent white; thighs, and ridges of the wings dark 

 pjurplish rust colour. 



" Bill 8 inches long ; \\ inch wide. Length 4 feet 4 inches ; 

 alar extent 6 feet." — (Taken from Nuttall's Ornithology). 

 Suh genus Botaurus. 

 Sub gen. char. Bill subequal to head, compressed, deeper 

 than broad ; upper mandible sensibly curved ; legs and neck 

 comparatively short; naked space above the tibia short; feathers 

 of neck voluntarily erectile. 



Section /, with occipital feathers. 

 A. discors. Night Heron. 

 A. nycticorax of Wilson ! 

 Nyctiardea gardeni, Baird ! 

 T.s.p. Bill black, tip pale horn colour ; legs bluish green ; 

 irides red; eggs 4, greenish blue; eyelids purplish blue; lore 

 pale greenish yellow, (bluish white, — Wilson). 



Dorsal aspect. Econtlet, and line continued from it over the 

 eye white ; crown of head, back, and scapulars jet black with a 

 pea green iridescence ; nuchal region ashy white ; rump cinere- 

 ous; tail, secondaries and primaries dark ashy, the latter tinged 

 with bluish slate ; the first primary white on the outer vane, the 

 others having a worn appearance ; great and small coverts ashy 

 brown ; occipital feathers 2 to 3 or 4, long, narrow, white. 



Ventral aspect. White, purest on the chin and throat, tinged 

 with ashy on the flanks, and with cream colour on the belly and 

 vent; femorals white. 



3rd primary longest; 2nd and 4th subequal ; ]st longer than 

 tbe 4th. Length 24f inches ; alar expanse 34j inches. Length 

 of the occipital feathers C to 8 inches ; length of bill from the 

 angle of the mouth to the tip 3j- inches; breadth across the 

 angle of the mouth 1 inch 1 line. 



The young bird has a deep brown dorsal aspect, streaked with 

 rufous white, and triangular spots of white on the back and 

 wings ; quills ashy, with a terminal spot of white. Ventral as- 

 pect. Cinereous streaked with white ; irides orange. They want 

 the occipital feathers. 



Section 11^ without the occipital feathers. 

 A. lentiginosa. American Bittern. 

 A. minor of Wilson and Buonaparte ! 

 Botaurus lentiginosus. Baird ! 

 V.8.P. Bill yellow at the sides and beneath, blackish brown 



