LITTLE YELLOW BITTERN. 343 



larvas of lihelluladcB and dyticidcs, and with fresh- 

 water prawns. The latter lie in the stomach always 

 in the same way ; viz. doubled up, the head and 

 tail pointing forwards, the only way in which they 

 could be swallowed with safety. 



In all the Ardeadce that I have examined, there 

 are on the breast two masses of filamentous down, 

 commonly of a pale buff hue, lying just over the 

 furcula; beneath which, attached to the inner surface 

 of the skin, are two flat glandular bodies of singular 

 appearance. A similar tuft and structure are found 

 just above the tail. With their object I am quite 

 unacquainted. 



LITTLE YELLOW BITTERN.* 

 Tortoiseshell-hird. 



Ardeola exilis. 



Ardea exilis^ Gmel. — And. pi. 210. 



Ardeola exilis, Bonap. 



This minute Heron is not unfrequently seen 

 dodging about the edges of the tall reeds that 

 clothe the morasses, or among the rank sedgy grass 

 that borders the streams. If alarmed it does not 

 usually fly, but darts into the rushy cover, where 

 the thinness of its form enables it to make its way 



* Length IS-^ inches, expanse 16^, flexure 4§, tail 1-|, rictus 2^, neck 

 6, tarsus 1-^, middle toe If. Intestine 41 , body 2*. 



