252 ARDEID^E. 



Mr. Gates remarks : " Breeds commonly in Lower Pegu. On 

 25th July found a nest near the top of a bamboo bush where 

 several branches met and formed a strong platform. Composed 

 merely of dry stalks and leaves of coarse grass and of indefinite 

 shape ; four eggs nearly hatched ; colour pale green, with no gloss 

 when fresh, but becoming shiny as incubation proceeds, when the 

 ground-colour is barely visible owing to the dirt on the egg. On 

 July 26th another nest on a mass of thorny bushes in a paddy- 

 field ; three eggs, quite fresh. Dimensions of five: 1-61,1-56, 

 1-68, 1-66, 1-61, by 1'2, 1-22, 1-25, 1-24, 1-25, respectively." 



The eggs of this species, received from Mr. Gates, are broad 

 ovals of the usual Heron type. The ground-colour is white, with 

 very faint green tinge. "Where incubation has been continued for 

 any length of time, the eggs have become soiled and overlaid with 

 a dingy yellowish-brown tinge. 



Ardetta cinnamomea (Gmel.). The Chestnut Bittern. 



Ardetta cinnamomea (Gm.}, Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 755. 



Ardea cinnamomea, Gm. } Hume, Hough Draft N. 8f E. no. 933. 



The only nest of the Chestnut Bittern I have myself seen, I 

 found on the 27th July, in the Botanical Gardens, Calcutta, where 

 I was at the time living. The garden coolies had brought my 

 friend, Mr. J. C. Parker, five or six eggs of this species, of which 

 there are numerous pairs about the gardens, and which (the 

 Herons, not the gardens) the people call Lall-bag, and this led me 

 to search for some for myself. After repeated hunts I found a 

 nest on the bank of one of the tanks in the midst of dense rushes 

 containing three fresh eggs. The nest was propped up on the 

 roots of the rushes, about 2 inches off the ground, was about 7 

 inches in diameter and 2 in thickness, with only a slight central 

 depression, and was composed of rush and grass, and lined with 

 rather finer grass. 



From Tipperah my friend the late Mr. Valentine Irwin sent me 

 seven eggs and noted as follows : " I have now taken two nests 

 of the Chestnut Bittern. The one which I took on the 30th May 

 contained four fresh eggs. The nest was made of the leaves of 

 reeds in short pieces. It was nearly flat, an inch in thickness, 

 and placed in a cane-bush near the water's edge in a tank. The 

 other, which I took on the 5th June, contained three fresh eggs 

 and was composed of short pieces of grass and reed laid on the 

 ground, at the roots of some water-plants in an old tank. In both 

 cases I myself saw the female bird sitting on the eggs before I took 

 them, and in the case of the first nest I shot her as she flew off, 

 and now send the skin with all the eggs." 



Mr. Brooks, writing from Etawah, says : " On the 24th August, 

 1869, five eggs were brought tome and described as those of a red- 

 coloured Gallinula or Water-hen. These eggs strongly resembled 

 those of the Little Bittern, Ardea minuta, which bird I endeav- 

 oured to describe to Ungun, the boy who had taken the eggs, but 



