FAMILY ARDEIDAE 97 



6, 1927 (L. Griscom) ; Quebrada Cauchero at 150 meters elevation 

 on Cerro Chucanti, March 8, 1950 sight record. Darien: Mouth of 

 Rio Sambii, sight record, February 24, 1927, (L. Griscom) ; mouth 

 of Rio Paya, on the Rio Tuira, February 10, 1959, and mouth of Rio 

 Tuquesa, on the Rio Chucunaque, March 24, 1954, sight records; 

 Rio Jaque, at the mouth of Rio Imamado, April 16, 1947, specimen; 

 Isla del Rey, Archipielago de las Perlas, May 8, 1900, specimen 

 (Bangs, Auk, 1901, p. 25). 



The bird from Cerro Azul, an immature taken by Goldman, was 

 shot at the edge of a stream. The river at that point flowed with 

 considerable fall over a rocky bed through heavy forest where the 

 trees overhung the water. On the Rio Jaque in 1947, rains had 

 formed a narrow, shallow pool in heavy forest along the base of a 

 hill opposite our camp. As I came to this in early morning a dark 

 bird moved on a log resting in the water, and then flew up into the 

 branches. When it flew again I fired, and it fell to the ground amid 

 a cloud of leaves cut by the shot. Its dark colors blended so perfectly 

 with the somber shadows in which I had found it that it seemed 

 truly a bird of the forest, one of the most beautiful and unusual of 

 its family that I have seen. In subsequent encounters I found the 

 haunts just described typical of those sought by this interesting spe- 

 cies, a solitary bird whose habits are little known. 



Michener (Condor, 1964, p. 77) recorded a colony of a dozen nests 

 in a swamp near Minatitlan, southern Veracruz "built of twigs about 

 4 to 6 feet above the water level, with water 3 to 4 feet deep." He 

 mentions fresh eggs but gives no further description. An t.gg in the 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology from the T. M, Brewer collection, 

 labeled "Amazon 1849 Edwards," subelliptical in form, is very pale 

 dull glaucous-blue. It measures 55.8 X 39.5 mm., the length being sub- 

 ject possibly to a minor correction of a fraction of a millimeter as the 

 specimen was end-blown. Schonwetter (Handb. Ool., pt. 2, 1960, p. 

 92) does not mention color but gives measurements of two eggs as 

 follows: 48.6x34.1, and 52x38 mm. 



PILHERODIUS PILEATUS (Boddaert): Capped Heron; Garza Real 



Ardea pileata Boddaert, Table Planch. Enlum., 1783, p. 54. (Cayenne.) 



White, with a distinct black crown. 



Description. — Length 510 to 590 mm. ; adult, white, with back and 

 wings light gray ; crown black, except the forehead, which is white ; 

 4 or 5 slender white nuchal plumes that when fully grown are 200 to 



