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enclosure and they used this 

 for several years consecutively until 

 they were driven away by some 

 one shooting at them, presumably 

 for their plumes. They then moved 

 about half-a-mile to another enclosed 

 grove around a Confucian temple. At 

 present they still hold these quarters, 

 but we noticed during the summer 

 that the Chinese boys were gathering 

 these eggs by the wholesale to eat. 

 We have never noticed this before. 



Notes. — These birds are rightly 

 named, for they sit around in the 

 trees through the day and start out 

 about nightfall to hunt for their food 

 in the paddy fields. Their hoarse 

 " quark, quark " can be heard at all 

 hours of the night out of the dark sky 

 as they pass over and this has given 

 rise to many strange superstitions 

 among the Chinese. 



GEEAT BITTEEN. 



BOTAURUS STELLARIS. 

 Description. — Length 28 inches. 



Bill greenish yellow. Feet and logs 

 yellowish green ; the inner toe is longer 

 than the outer. Iris reddish yellow. 



" Crown and nape black ; upper 

 plumage generally ochreous buff, with 

 black or dark brown markings which 

 cover the greater part of the back and 

 scapulars and become broken into 

 angulate cross bars on the wing covets, 

 rump, and tail, and into more distant 

 narrow angulate bars on the sides of 

 the neck ; quills rather irregularly 

 barred black and rufous ; a broad 

 blackish stripe runs back from the 

 gape. Chin and throat whitish with 

 a median tawny band ; rest of lower 



