THE NIGHT HERON. 409 



Bill very stout; culmen curved from base; the lower outline straight, or a little 

 concave; end of upper mandible gently decurved; tarsi short, equal to the middle 

 toe; the scales more than usually hexagonal inferiorly; outer lateral toe rather 

 longer; no unusual development of feathers, excepting a long, straight occipital 

 plume of three feathers, rolled together; neck short, moderately feathered behind. 



The Night Herons, with a certain resemblance to the Bittern, differ in the much 

 stouter and more curved bill, the lower edge of which is straight, instead of rising at 

 the end ; the tarsus is equal to the middle toe, not shorter, and is covered anteriorly 

 below by small hexagonal scales, instead of large transverse scutellas; the claws 

 are much shorter and more curved; the tail has twelve feathers instead of ten. 



NYCTIAEDEA GARBEM. — Baird. 



The Night Heron ; Qua-bird. 



Ardea nycticorax, Wilson. Am. Orn., Yll. (1813) 101. Aud. Om. Biog., III. 

 (1835) 275; V. 600. 



Ardea (hotaurus) discors, Nuttall. Man., II. (1834) 54. 



Description. 



Head above and middle of back steel-green; wings and tail ashy-blue ; under 

 parts, forehead, and long occipital feathers white ; sides tinged with lilac. 



Bill very thick at the base, and tapering all the way to the tip. Culmen nearly 

 straight for half its length, then considerably curved; lower outline of bill nearly 

 straight; gonj's proper slightlj' concave; legs short, but stout ; the tarsus equal to 

 the middle toe ; covered throughout with hexagonal scales, the anterior Lirgest, but 

 those on the upper portion much larger, and going entirely across ; tibia bare for 

 about one-fifth; lateral toes nearly equal; the outer rather longest; claws small; 

 considerably curved ; tail short, of twelve broad, rather stiff feathers. 



Head with the occipital feathers elongated, and with two or three very long, 

 straight feathers (as long as the bill and head) springing from the occiput. These 

 are rolled up so as to appear like a single cjdindrical feather; back of the neck 

 covered with down, but not provided with long feathers ; interscapular feathers aud 

 scapulars elongated and lanceolate, the webs scarcely decomposed. 



The upper part of the head, including the upper ej'elids, the occipital crest, and 

 the interscapular region and scapulars, dark lustrous steel-green ; the wings and tail 

 are ashy -blue; the under parts, the forehead, and the long occipital feathers, are 

 white, passing into pale ashy-lilac on the sides aud on the neck above; this color, in 

 fact, tingeing nearly the whole under parts. The region along the base of the bill, 

 however, is nearly pure, as are the tibia. The bill is black; the loral space green; 

 the iris red; the feet yellow; the claws brown. 



Length, about twenty-five inches; wing, twelve and fifty one-hundredths; tar- 

 sus, three and fifteen one-hundredths; bill, above, three and ten one-hundredths 

 inches. 



Hub. — United States generally. 



The Night Heron is pretty generally distributed through- 

 out New England as a sninmer resident. It seems to pre- 

 fer the neighborhood of the seacoast, but is found in many 



