BUTORIDES. 659 



F. viii. p. 114. Ardea leucoptera, apud Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 161. The 

 CHINESE POND HERON. 



In Breeding Plumage. Whole head with long pointed occipital crest and 

 entire neck rich vinous chestnut; pectoral plumes long and soft, deep chest- 

 nut tinged with purple ; dorsal train black, tinged with purple ; chin, throat, 

 wings, tail, rump and upper tail coverts, also the lower plumage, white. In 

 winter both sexes resemble A. grayi, except that the back, scapulars, and 

 tertiaries are a richer brown, tinged with chocolate or rufous ; irides bright 

 yellow; base of upper mandible bluish, rest black ; feet pale orange. (Oates.) 



Length. -17 to 1 8 inches ; tail 3-1 ; wing 8'6; tarsus 2' 2 ; bill from gape 

 3*4 ; crest 4 inches long. 



Hab. Southern Tenasserim and the Malay Peninsula. Occurs also in S. 

 China and Cochin-China. 



Gen. Butorides. Biyth. 



Bill moderately long and stout ; tibia feathered nearly to the knee ; inner 

 toe short ; head crested. 



1358. Butorides javanica (Jlorsfojerd., B. Ind. Hi. p. 752'; 



Wald., Trans. Zool. Soc. viii. p. 100 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs Ind. B. 

 p. 620; Blyth t B. Burnt, p. 160 ; Legge,B. Ceylon p. 1153; Murray, Vert. 

 Zool., Smd, p. 272; Oates, B. Br. Burm. ii. p. 254. Ardea javanica, Horsf., 

 Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 190. The LITTLE GREEN BITTERN. 



Forehead and crown glossy black, also the long occiptal crest; a streak 

 from behind the eye including the ear coverts white, in some with a fulvescent 

 tinge ; another streak, which is black, below the eye ; back and sides of the 

 neck, also the breast and abdomen, greyish brown, ashy brown in some ; chin 

 and a streak down the front of the neck white ; back and scapulars green, the 

 feathers lengthened, lanceolate and white-shafted ; the tertials white edged ; 

 wing coverts glossy green, edged with pale buff or fulvous ; secondaries mar- 

 gined round their tips with yellowish white ; tail dark slaty ; under tail coverts 

 greyish ; quills dark slaty, narrowly tipped with white ; bill black above, pale 

 yellow beneath ; legs yellowish green. 



Length. 16 to 1675 inches ; wing 6-75 ; tail 2*5 ; bare part of tibia 0-5 ; 

 irides bright yellow ; nude orbitar skin dull green. 



The young bird or bird of the year is very differently marked. The 

 head is black, with the feathers narrowly striated mesially with rufescent ; sides 

 of the neck and breast and lower parts fulvescent white, the feathers edged 

 with dark brown ; chin, throat and a line down the neck white ; back and 

 scapulars brown with a greenish tinge ; the scapulars with a minute triangular 

 white spot at the tip, Primaries and secondaries dusky brown, each with a 



