96 NOTES ON THE 



They retire southward by the second, week of October. 



I omitted to say that the eggs are somewhat variable in 

 color from bluish green to greenish-yellow, and generally four 

 in number. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Head above and middle of back, steel -green: wings and tail 

 ashy-blue; underparts, forehead and long occipital feathers, 

 white; sides tinged with lilac; bill very thick at base and taper- 

 ing to the tip; culmen nearly straight for half its length, then 

 considerably curved; lower outline of bill nearly straight; gonys 

 proper slightly concave; legs short and stout; tarsus equal to 

 middle toe, and covered with hexagonal scales, those anterior 

 largest, but those on the upper portion much larger, and 

 extending entirely across; tibia bare for one fifth; lateral toes 

 nearly equal, the outer rather longest; claws small, consider- 

 ably curved; tail short, of twelve broad, rather stiff, feathers; 

 head with the occipital feathers elongated and with two or 

 three very long, straight feathers (long as bill and head) 

 springing from the occiput; these are rolled up so as to appear 

 like a single cylindrical feather; back of neck covered with 

 down, but not provided with long feathers; scapular and inter- 

 scapular feathers elongated and lanceolate; the webs scarcely 

 decomposed; upper part of head, upper eyelids, occipital, 

 crest, scapular and interscapular region, dark lustrous steel 

 green; wings and tail ashy -blue; under parts, forehead and 

 long occipital feathers, white passing into pale, ashy- lilac on 

 the sides and neck above, as also tinging nearly the whole 

 under parts; the region along the base of the bill, however, 

 nearly pure as on the tibia; bill black; loral space green; iris 

 red; feet yellow and claws brown. 



Length, 25; wing, 12.50; tarsus, 8.15; bill, about 3.10. 



Habitat, America. 



NYCTICORAX VIOLAOEFS (L.). (203.) 



YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT HERON 



The first time I met the Black-crowned Night Heron in the 

 State was in Mr. William How^ling's taxidermal shop in 1864 I 

 think, when standing beside it was a Yellow-crown. Although 

 I began to meet the former from time to time, it was several 

 years before I saw another of the latter, till I found it again in 

 a private collection in St. Paul. I have never taken the bird, 

 but in all the instances in which I have seen these specimens, 

 I have ascertained that they were collected here, and under 

 precisely the same circumstances in which the others were 

 found. I know nothing more of the bird locally than I did 



