154 COMMON NIGHT-HERON. 



in the back figure of our plate, and known as the 

 Gardenian Heron, the colour of the plumage is dif- 

 ferent shades of wood-brown, very deep above, and 

 approaching to yellowish- white below, and on the 

 back and wing-coverts having each feather marked 

 along the centres with triangular white spots ; be- 

 neath, the feathers are margined with darker wood- 

 brown, which gives an interrupted appearance to 

 these parts ; the bill is more of an olive colour at 

 the base, and the legs and feet are nearly olive- 

 green ; in this state there is no indication of the 

 crest. 



On comparing a specimen of an adult bird from 

 Southern Africa with two others, the one from the 

 continent, the other killed in Scotland, we find no 

 difference, except in the crest of those of Europe 

 and Britain ; in it the narrow feathers are uniform 

 in their breadth, and are pure white ; in the speci- 

 men from Africa, the feather is a quarter of an inch 

 in breadth at the base, gradually narrowing to an 

 accuminated point ; the shaft is dark, and in one of 

 them the half is entirely black. 



