132 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



d'. Throat and foroncck striped with whitish. 



Adult : Whole top of head glossy dark bottle-green or green- 

 ish black; rest of head, with greater part of neck, rich 

 chestnut, varying in tone from cinnamon to maroon ; scap- 

 ular i)lumes plumbeous, or glaucous, glossed with green, 

 and with whitish shafts; wing-coverts metallic bottle-green 

 distinctly bordered with butf or whitish ; innermost pri- 

 maries tipped narrowly with whitish; lower parts plain 

 graj'ish. Young : Much like adult, but top of head usually 

 streaked anteriorly with rusty ; sides of head and neck 

 streaked with ochraceous or buff, on a duller rustj" ground ; 

 lower parts whitish, striped with dusky; light borders to 

 wing-coverts broader, the two or three median rows of 

 coverts marked with wedge-shaped spots or streaks of 

 white. Length 15.50-22.50, wing G.30-8.00, culmen 2.00- 

 2.55, tarsus 1.75-2.15. E<jrjs 1.50 X 1-1-4. Hab. Whole of 

 temperate Xorth America, West Indies, Middle America, 

 and northern South America, to Colombia and Venezuela ; 

 north to Ontario and Oregon ; Bermudas. 

 (14,) 201. A. virescens Linn. Green Heron, 



c*. Xeck ash-graj'. 



Otherwise much like A. virescens. Hah. South America, except 

 northern portion. 



A. striata Lixx. Streaked Heron. 



Gencs NYCTICORAX Stephens. (Page 120, pi. XXXVIL, figs. 1, 2; pi. 

 XXXVIIL,^fig. 1.) 



/Species. 



Common Cn.\RACTERS. — Adults : Prevailing colors bluish gray, black, and white, 

 the head (except just after breeding season) ornamented with several very much 

 lengthened narrow while plumes; bill black, and iris reddish. Young, brownish, 

 striped longitudinally with white. Eggs pale bluish green. 



fl'. Culmen about as long as the tarsus ; gonj-s nearlj' straight, and lateral outlines 

 of bill slightly concave; tarsus but little longer than middle toe; scapulars 

 broad, blended. (Subgenus Nyctkorax.) 



Adult : Top of head, back, and scapulars uniform glossy greenish black ; 

 forehead, sidiis of head, chin, throat, and lower parts generally white, 

 often tinged with delicate cream-yellow ; neck (exeejit in front) and sides 

 pale ash-graj-; wings, rump, upper tail-covei-ts, and tail, deep ash-graj'. 

 Immature (second year?) : Similar to adult, but sca]>ulars and interscapu- 

 lars dull ash-gray, like the wings, and white of forehead obscured by 



> Ardea Btriala Ll.VM., S. N. ed. 10, i. 1758, 144. liutoridet tlriatm UiDOW., in B. B. & R. Hist. N. Am. B. 

 i. 1SS4. 51. 



