2062 HERONS, STORKS, AND- IBISES 



man, some relatives, six children, six or eight herons (gray and white), a couple of 

 cormorants, a kid, a dog, and otter spears, nets, lines, hooks, and the like, of all 

 descriptions. ' ' 



Among other species, brief reference must be made to the beautiful 

 ' buff-backed heron (A. bubulcus}* which is so common along the banks 

 of the Nile, and is frequently pointed out to tourists as the sacred ibis. During the 

 breeding season this bird has the plumage of the head, neck, and breast rufous 

 buff, and some long plumes on the back also of the same tint; the remainder being 

 white, with a tinge of creamy on the wing coverts. The beak is reddish at the 

 base, and yellow at the tip; the eye and lore are golden pink, and the limbs yel- 

 lowish red. This bird always displays great partiality for cultivated grounds, feed- 

 ing not only upon frogs and locusts, but likewise on worms and larvae turned up by 

 the plow, as well as on ticks from the backs of cattle, from which habit it is 

 frquently termed the cattle egret. The squacco heron (A. ralloides] is a still smaller 

 species, measuring only nineteen inches in length, and is of special interest as form- 

 ing a connecting link between the other members of the genus and the night herons. 

 Its distinctive features are the great length of the beak, and the presence of a mane- 

 like crest extending from the back of the head all down the neck. In the full 

 plumage the feathers on the top of the head are yellowish brown, with dark streaks; 

 those of the crest are white, with black borders; the sides of the head and neck are 

 reddish buff; the interscapulars and long hair-like feathers of the back pale reddish 

 brown, and the remainder of the plumage white. The beak is blue at the base and 

 black at the tip, the lore green, and the legs are yellowish green, with black claws. 

 Essentially a South-European and African form, the squacco ranges in summer over 

 the more northern parts of the continent, and has been taken on a considerable 

 number of occasions in the British Islands. 



nerons . f which the European species (Nycticorax griseus} 



N' ht H 



is the best known, "are comparatively-small birds, taking their name 



from their habit of spending the day in sleep and waking up in the evening to pass 

 the greater part of the night in searching for food. They are distinguished by the 

 relatively-short beak being very thick at the base and slightly bent down at the tip; 

 by the moderately-long and stout legs, in which a portion of the tibia is naked, and 

 the metatarsus is longer than the third toe; the very broad wings, and also by the 

 plumage, with the exception of some three thread-like plumes from the back of the 

 head being smoother and more compact than in the true herons. The scutes on 

 the front of the metatarsus are six-sided, and the tail has twelve feathers. In the 

 adult of the common species, the crown of the head, nape, upper back, and shoul- 

 ders are blackish green, the remainder of the upper parts and the sides of the neck 

 ashy gray; the under parts pale straw color, and the head plumes (which in old 

 birds may be increased above the ordinary three) pure white. The iris is a fine 

 purple red, the beak black with a yellow base, the lore green, and the foot greenish 

 yellow. In the young bird the head plumes are absent, the general color of the 

 upper plumage is brown with longitudinal rusty-yellow and yellowish -white flecks; 



*Sometimes referred to a distinct genus Bitbulcus. 



