( 17 ) 

 POND HEEON. 



ti;^ 



ARDEOLA BACCHUS (bP.) 



Description. — Length 19 inches. 



Bill, base blue, middle yellow, tip 

 black. Legs yellow. Iris golden yellow. 

 Pf V3are skin about the eyes greenish. _. 



*y Back g roonion ; \^f^sT «* rooaiafr ' ' 

 Head, neck and crest dark chestnut t^ 



brown. &r»»i- >el tke eeek ¥01^0^ . C**-*-*^ P^*T^ 

 TJtih hrmrn. y ellow aad wbt^e. Best "u---^ i-^Aii. -W 

 of plumage white. JU-c^-^-t,. 



In breeding plumage, the adults wear 

 a beautiful greenish, bronze-colored 

 aigrette of long hairy feathers covering 

 the whole backjj^ 



\.uimma%i^Q fe»^^, ^the chestnut of 

 the head and neck is replaced by 

 brown streaked with buff. The breast 

 is white streaked brown, the upper 

 parts are various shades of brown, the 

 scapulars being obscurely streaked 

 with buff. 



Di&trihution. — Cochin China and 

 most of China. This bird is a summer 

 visitant in the Yangtse Valley. 



"Nest and Eggs. — Several large nest- 

 ing colonies of this heron have been 

 visited along the south bank of the 

 Yangtse Eiver, near Kiangyin, One 

 was in a large bamboo grove at the 

 rear of a village. The nests were 

 mingled with those of a colony of the 

 Azure-wing Magpie. Another was in 

 a group of large trees on the streets of 

 a village, and still another within the 

 city of Kiangyin. The nests were 

 loose platforms of sticks placed among 

 the small outer branches of the trees 

 from 15 to 30 feet from the ground. 

 The eggs are a light apple-green color, 

 from two to four in a clutch. 



