AVES ARDEID^. 389 



Nyctiardea obscitra Gray (nee Licht), Handl. B. III. p. 33, no. 10176 pt 



(1871). 

 Nycticorax tayazii-giiiya, Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XXVI. p. 155 (1898); 



id. Hand-list B. I. p. 198 (1899); Martens, Vog. Hamb. Magalh. 



Sammelr. p. 21 (1900); Gates, Cat. Birds' Eggs Brit. Mus. II. p. 124 



(1902). 



General description. 



Size. — Adult male. (8823 Princeton University Collection, Province 

 of Buenos Aires, Argentina^ July 1896). 



Total length, about 26.5 inches. 



Wing, 12.4. 



Culmen, 3.2. 



Tail, 5.3. 



Tarsus, 3.2. 



There does not appear to be a difference in size according to sex. 



Color. — Adult male (cited). Breeding dress. General color grey with 

 a large dorsal area of deep greenish black. A like area on the head. 

 Below delicate grey, shading into pure white on the throat and abdomen. 



Fig. 205. 



Nycticorax tayazu-guira, adult male. 8823 Princeton University Collection. About \ nat- 

 ural size. 



Head : Forehead and continuous with it a line extending back above 

 the eye, white. Whole top of the head deep greenish black ; the 

 feathers lengthened and silky and reaching down on the nape for a short 

 distance. From the occiput a long (10 inches in bird cited) white cord- 

 like plume, which, when separated, is found to be composed of several 



