86 BULLETIN 15 5, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



trees, ordinarily in swamps, where it flushes with heavy flight. Its 

 harsh calls are heard often at night overhead as the birds pass to 

 roosts or feeding grounds. 



The adult has the neck, forehead and underparts whitish and the 

 crown, and upper back greenish black. The lower back, wings and 

 tail are ashy, and two slender plumes growing from the back of the 

 head are white. The immature bird is grayish brown above streaked 

 with white or buffy, and whitish below streaked with blackish. The 

 bird measures about 450 mm. in length. It is heavier bodied than 

 other herons. 



NYCTANASSA VIOLACEA VIOLACEA (Linnaeus) 

 YELLOW- CEO WNED NIGHT HERON, YABOA 



Ardea violacea Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 143 (Carolina). 



Ardea cayenensis, Hitter, Naturh. Reis. Westind. Insel Hayti, 1S36, pp. 151, 

 157 (Fort Royal). 



Nyeticorax violaceus, Chekrie, Field Columbian Mus., Ornith. ser., vol. 1. 

 1896, p. 25 (Rio Ozama). — Verrill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1909. 

 p. 357 (very common). 



Nyctiardea violacea, Tippenhatjer, Die Insel Haiti, 1892, p. 323 (listed). 



Nyclanassa violacea, Beebe, Zool. Soc. Bull., vol. 30, 1927, p. 139 ; Beneath 

 Tropic Seas, 1928, p. 219 (Bizoton, one). — Lonnberg, Fauna och Flora, 1929, 

 p. 99 (Haiti, specimen). 



Nyctanassa violacea violacea, Bond, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 

 80, 1928, p. 490 (Port-au-Prince; Grand Lagon, Point-a-Raquettes, Gonave 

 Island). — Danforth, Auk, 1929, p. 360 (fairly common). — Moltoni, Att. Soc. 

 Ital. Scienz. Nat., vol. 68, 1929, p. 309 (Bonao, Moca, San Juan, specimens). 



Resident; fairly common in suitable localities. 



Cherrie saw the yellow-crowned night heron on the Rio Ozama 

 near Santo Domingo City on several occasions. Verrill writes that 

 it was " very common in the swamps and along the larger rivers " 

 without giving definite localities. In the collection of J. H. Fleming 

 there is a male taken by Verrill, March 8, 1907, at Sanchez. Abbott 

 collected specimens at Laguna and Cape Rojo on the Samana Pen- 

 insula on August 10 and 29, 1916, respectively. Danforth in 1927 

 found this species at Monte Cristi, San Juan, and Bonao. Ciferri 

 obtained specimens at Bonao, Moca, and San Juan. 



In Haiti Ritter records one taken near Fort Royal, Abbott secured 

 specimens on Grande Cayemite Island January 5, 1918, and at Petit 

 Port a PEcu on May 9, 1917. He saw yellow-crowned night herons 

 occasionally on Gonave Island from February 18 to 28, 1918. Dr. 

 C. H. Arndt, under date of April 22, 1927, has written from Fonds- 

 des-Negres that a pair were nesting at that time in a large mombin 

 tree on the grounds of the coffee experiment station. Beebe saw one 



