7) 
720 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
neck white, tinged with ferruginous ; dorsal plumes long, narrow, 
and lanceolate. Length, 15"; wing, 7’” 2”; tail, 2” 9’. 
698. Boraurus sturm1, Wagl. African Dwarf Bittern. 
Ardea gutturalis, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 310. 
We have seen one specimen of this Bittern shot at the Paarl by 
Mr. Gird in 1869. Mr. Ayres has procured it in Natal, and says that 
he believes that “both this species and Botawrus pusillus feed 
entirely at night, generally hiding themselves in the reeds by day, 
and coming out into the reeds at dusk.” Mr. Jameson’s expedition 
met with the species at Kooroomoorooi Pan. Mr. Andersson 
writes: ‘‘I observed several of these birds in Damara Land, and 
found them very common in Ondonga. Axel also found them 
exceedingly abundant between Ondonga and Ovaquenyama, as well 
as at Ovagandyaro. The favourite haunts of this species are vleys 
surrounded with trees and bushes, on which it perches ; and it is 
rarely met with at a distance from trees. It feeds on insects and 
the smaller crustacea, but seems to be somewhat omnivorous in its 
diet. I am inclined to think that it feeds by night. It breeds in 
Ondonga, usually placing its nest in the lower branches of palm 
bushes which are partly immersed in water, a few feet above which 
the nest is situated ; it is composed of stalks of coarse grass or of 
small twigs laid across each other without much care or strength, 
and with hardly any depression for the reception of the eggs, which 
are four in number.” Senor Anchieta has procured a single specimen 
at Biballa. 
Above, dark slate-colour; beneath buff, variegated from the chin 
down to the belly with elongated blotches of dark slate-colour, 
here and there edged with rufous; flanks tinged with rufous. 
Length, 12"; wing, 6’; tail, 2”. “Iris brownish-lake; bill black, 
with the bare skin at the base light green; the bare skin round the 
eye dusky blue; tarsi and feet chrome-yellow, suffused with dusky 
brown” (Ayres). 
Fig. Smith, Ill. Zool. 8. Afr., Aves, pl. 91. 
699. Boraurus pusiLuus, V. African Little Bittern. 
Ardea minuta, Layard, B. 8. Afr, p. 309. 
Ardea pusilla, id. p. 310. 
It is now generally conceded that the Little Bittern of Africa is 
