486 ARDEID.E. 



NycTiooRAX. Generic Cluiracters. — Beak about tlie same length as the 

 head, bulky, strong, broad and dilated at the base ; upper mandible slightly 

 bending and curved at the point ; under mandible straight. Nostrils longitu- 

 dinal, lateral, but little in advance of the base of the beak, naked, placed in a 

 groove, and partly covered by a naked membrane ; lore and orbits naked. 

 Legs of moderate length, naked for a short distance above the tarsal joint ; tarsus 

 longer than the middle toe ; the outer and middle toe united by a membrane ; 

 claws short, that of the middle toe pectinated. 



According to Pennant, the first specimen of the Night 

 Heron killed in England was shot near London in May 

 1782, since which more than a dozen examples have been 

 killed and recorded in various counties of England ; it has 

 been obtained twice in Ireland, and twice, if not more, in 

 Scotland. 



The Night Heron has an extensive geographical range, 

 being found in Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America ; 

 it is most numerous in the warmer parts of each, and does 

 not go to the very cold or high latitudes on either of the 

 continents of the Northern hemisphere. It inhabits marshes, 

 fens, and the margins of lakes or rivers, wdiich are thickly 

 OTown over with reeds or bushes. These birds are nocturnal 

 in their habits, secreting themselves by day among the reeds, 

 flags, rushes, or other rank vegetation of morasses, and take 

 wing on the approach of evening, Avith harsh disagreeable 

 notes, to visit their feeding-ground. They seek small rep- 

 tiles, fishes, and aquatic insects, which are swallowed whole. 

 They build on trees, and lay four pale greenish blue eggs, 

 rather more than two inches in length by one inch and a half 

 in breadth. The young bird is brown, wdtli elongated yel- 

 lowish white spots, as shown in the wood-engraving at the 

 head of this subject. From the great difference in colour 

 when compared with the adult Night Heron, the- young bird 

 was considered as a different species, and named Ardea Gar- 

 de7ii, and Gardenian Heron, in compliment to Dr. Garden of 

 South Carolina, and was called by Dr. Latham the Spotted 

 Heron. Gmelin conferred a service in suggesting the scien- 



