THE NIGHT HERON. 



NYCTICOIIAX GARDENI. 



Head, back, and scapulars, black, with blue and green reflections ; on tlie back 

 of the head three very long narrow white feathers ; lower part of the back, 

 wings, and tail, pearl-grey ; forehead, streak over the eyes, and all the lower 

 parts, white; beak black, yellow at the base ; irides red ; feet yellowish green. 

 Young birds have no crest : the upper plumage is dull brown streaked with 

 yellow ; wing-coverts and primaries marked with fish-shaped streaks, which 

 are yellowish; under parts dull white, mottled with brown and ash; bill 

 greenish ; irides and feet brown. Length twenty-one inches. Eggs pale blue. 



The Night Heron is a bird of wide geographical range ; 

 but, on account of its nocturnal habits and the rarity of its 

 occurrence in this country, it has been little observed. 

 A specimen was brought to me at Helston, Cornwall, about 

 the year 1836, which had been shot in the dusk of the 

 evening, on Goonhilly Downs. Its long and delicate crest 

 had been stupidly tied" into a knot, and by the bruised 

 condition of these feathers the specimen, if it still exists 

 in any museum, may yet be identified. 



The Night Heron is said to be not uncommon on the 

 shores of the Baltic, in the wide marshes of Bretagne and 



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