ARDEID^E. 287 



These birds live in small flocks or societies, and 

 frequent marshy ground and the sides of running 

 streams; they make daily excursions from some fixed 

 point, to which they return at nightfall. 



The food of this species consists of fish, rats, mice, 

 reptiles, and insects. 



Its nest is formed on the ground, at the roots of reeds, 

 in some swamp or dense reed-bed. 



The irides are yellow; a naked narrow space from 

 under the eyes to past the angle of the mouth is brown ; 

 a portion of the lore and a narrow space on the edges of 

 the upper mandible near the gape are light yellow, the 

 remainder of the upper mandible and of the lore are 

 brown ; the lower mandible is brownish yellow ; the legs 

 and toes brown. 



Measurements of a male : 



in. lin. 



Entire length 34 



Length of folded wing 120 



tarsus 47 



middle toe 45 



bill 5 8 



336. Ardea rnfiventris, Sund. Rufous-bellied Heron. 



Ardea rwfiventris, Sundevall, in Ofvers. 1850, p. 110. 

 Ayres, in Ibis, 1871, pi. 9. 



I have shot several individuals of this very handsome 

 Heron both on the river Okavango and on the river 

 Teoughe, as well as in the neighbourhood of Lake 

 Ngami; but I do not recollect having met with it in 

 Damara Land. 



