132 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



<P. Throat and fore-neck striped with whitish. 



Adxdt : Whole top of head glossy dark bottle-green or green- 

 ish black; rest of head, with greater part of neck, rich 

 chestnut, varying in tone from cinnamon to maroon ; scap- 

 ular plumes plumbeous, or glaucous, glossed with green, 

 and with whitish shafts ; wing-coverts metallic bottle-green 

 distinctly bordered with buff or whitish ; innermost pri- 

 maries tipped narrowly with whitish ; lower parts plain 

 grayish. Young : Much like adult, but top of head usually 

 streaked anteriorly with rusty ; sides of head and neck 

 streaked with ochraceous or buflp, on a duller rusty ground ; 

 lower parts whitish, striped with dusky ; light borders to 

 wing-coverts broader, the two or three median rows of 

 coverts marked with wedge-shaped spots or streaks of 

 white. Length 15.50-22.50, wing 6.30-8.00, culmen 2.00- 

 2.55, tarsus 1.75-2.15. Eggs 1.50 X 1.14. Hab. ^Yho\e of 

 temperate North America, West Indies, Middle America, 

 and northern South America, to Colombia and Venezuela; 

 north to Ontario and Oregon ; Bermudas. 



201. A. virescens Linn. Green Heron. 

 c^. Neck ash-gray. 



Otherwise much like A. virescens. Hah. South America, except 

 northern portion. 



A. striata Linn. Streaked Heron. 



Genus NYCTICORAX Stephens. (Pago 126, pi. XXXVIL, figs. 1, 2; pi. 



XXXVIIL, fig. 1.) 



Species. 



Common Characters. — Adults : Prevailing colors bluish gray, black, and white, 

 the head (except just after breeding season) ornamented with several very much 

 lengthened narrow white plumes ; bill black, and iris reddish. Young, brownish, 

 striped longitudinally with white. Eggs pale bluish green. 



a\ Culmen about as long as the tarsus ; gonys nearly straight, and lateral outlines 

 of bill slightly concave ; tarsus but little longer than middle toe ; scapulars 

 broad, blended. (Subgenus Nycticorax.') 



Adult : Top of head, back, and scapulars uniform glossy greenish black ; 

 forehead, sides of head, chin, throat, and lower parts generally white, 

 often tinged with delicate cream-j^ellow ; neck (except in front) and sides 

 pale ash-gray ; wings, rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail, deep ash-gray. 

 Immature (second year ?) : Similar to adult, but scapulars and interscapu- 

 lars dull ash-gray, like the wings, and white of forehead obscured by 



1 Ardea striata Linn., S. N. ed. 10, i. 1758, lU. Butoridea striatm Ridgw., in B. B. & R. Hist. N. Am. B. 

 i. 1884, 51. 



