THE HERONS 2063 



while the under parts have a whitish, and the neck a yellow ground with brown 

 markings; both the iris and beak being brown. In total length the night heron 

 measures about twenty-three inches. 



The genus has an almost world- wide distribution, being found in regions as 

 remote from one another as Britain and New Zealand, and the common European 

 species has likewise a very wide range. In Northern Europe the latter is a com- 

 paratively rare visitor, and it is said to be becoming less numerous in the north of 

 Germany and Holland, where it'breeds, but it is abundant in Spain, Italy, and the 

 Danubian provinces. Thence it extends eastward through Palestine to India, 

 Burma, China, and Japan, as well as the Malayan islands, while it ranges through- 

 out Africa, and is represented in North America by a rather larger race, which in 

 South America passes into a darker variety. The habitat of the night heron is 

 generally in thickly-wooded districts, and by preference in the near neighborhood 

 of swamps, although not unfrequently these birds inhabit groves at considerable 

 distances from water, from whence they make long nocturnal flights to their fishing 

 grounds. Except during the breeding season, they seldom, unless disturbed, rouse 

 themselves from their slumbers in the daytime; but when the young are hatched, 

 the parents are compelled to go abroad in search of food during the daylight hours. 

 Perching with its neck resting on its shoulders, the night heron when disturbed 

 from its slumbers flies but a short distance, and again settles. When on the wing, 

 the head is drawn in between the shoulders, and the legs stretched out behind, the 

 flight being slow and flapping, and the course of the bird indicated in the darkness 

 by the utterance from time to time of a characteristic hoarse croak. In Europe the 

 breeding season lasts from May to July, the nests being generally placed in bushes 

 or low trees near swamps, but at other times in groves which may be also tenanted 

 by other members of the order, and rarely among reeds. Large numbers of birds 

 associate in these breeding places, and when the young are hatched, the noise 

 made by the birds as darkness conies on is described as deafening. The nests in 

 some places are made of rice straw, and are remarkable for their size and solid 

 structure; the pale greenish-blue eggs vary from three to five in number. The food 

 of these birds comprises aquatic insects, worms, mollusks, frogs, and small fish. 



Omitting mention of some important genera, brief reference must 

 Little Bittern , , , ,. . , >. ,, 



be made to the little bittern (Ardella mtnuta), as the representative 



of a small genus in some respects connecting the night herons with the true bitterns. 

 These birds are much smaller than the night heron, measuring only thirteen inches 

 in length, while agreeing with the foregoing genera in having the second quill of 

 the wing the longest (although but slightly so), and the third toe shorter than the 

 metatarsus; they differ in having only ten short feathers in the tail, in the tibia be- 

 ing feathered nearly to the ankle, and in the greater length of the toes. The legs 

 are rather short, and the straight, slender, pointed beak is slightly longer than the 

 head. In the male the plumage of the crown of the head, nape, back, and 

 shoulders, as well as the primaries and tail feathers, are shining greenish black, and 

 the wing coverts and under parts tawny buff, marked on the breast and flanks with 

 black. The beak, lore, and iris are yellow, and the legs and feet greenish yellow. 

 The smallest member of the heron tribe found in Britain, where it is an occasional 



