662 ARDEID^E. 



Hal). Sind, Bengal, Kutch, Deccan, and nearly throughout India ; also 

 Ceylon and Burmah generally, extending to the Malay Peninsula and Islands 

 of Java, Borneo and Sumatra. It is less common than the last, and frequents 

 similar situations, i.e., high reeds and thickets. All the species are nocturnal 

 feeders, and remain hid during the day in dense cover. Breeds during 

 July and August in similar situations as the last. Eggs, four in number, 

 pale green. 



1360. Ardetta mimita, Linn., Syst. Nat. i. p. 670; Hardw., III. 

 Ind. Zool. pi. ; Bodd., Tabl. PI. Enl. 323 ; Naum., Vogt. t. 227 ; Gould, B. 

 Eur. pi. 282 ; Jerd., B. Ind. iii. p. 756, No. 935 ; Hume, Sir. F. i. p. 256; 

 Hume, Nests and Eggs Ind. B. p. 624. The LITTLE BITTERN. 



Top of the head, back, scapulars and tail black, with greenish reflections ; 

 hind-neck nearly bare of feathers, those of the foreneck falling back and cover- 

 ing it; cheeks, chin, neck and all the lower parts of the body reddish buff or 

 inclining to chestnut ; the feathers on the sides of the breast are black, edged 

 with buff ; those of the flanks long, and narrowly striped mesially with pale 

 brown ; primaries and secondaries black or greyish black ; greater and lesser 

 wing coverts dull yellowish buff ; bill bright yellow, dusky above ; orbitar skin 

 and irides yellow ; feet greenish with a yellow tinge. 



Length. 15 inches ; wing 575 ; tail 2 ; bill at front 175. 



Hab. Sind, Bengal, Punjab, Beloochistan, Persia, Arabia and the Hima- 

 layas are the only known localities where this species has been found outside of 

 Europe. It breeds in the Narra Districts in Sind, where Mr. S. Doig took its 

 eggs. (Str. F. viii. 372, 379.) Each nest contained 4 6 eggs, elongate 

 ovals, and pure white, with a very slight tinge of sea green not perceptible in 

 the blown egg. 



Gen. BotauruS. Briss. 



Bill rather short, stout and rounded ; tip scooped ; the upper mandible 

 curved to the tip, and longer than the lower ; tarsi short ; nostrils narrow, 

 situated near the base of the bill ; ist to 3rd quills of wing longest. 



1331. BotaurUS Stellaris, Linn., Syst. Nat. i. p. 230; Jerd., B. 

 Ind. iii. p. 757 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs Ind. B. p. 624 ; Dresser, B. Eur. vi. 

 p. 281, pi.; Murray, Vert. Zool., fyc., Sind, p. 275 ; Oates, B. Br. Burm. 

 ii. p. 258. The COMMON EUROPEAN BITTERN. 



Forehead, crown and nape glossy black, also a moustachial stripe ; sides of 

 the face and ear coverts buff, with narrow dusky streaks ; feathers of the sides 

 of the neck long and lax, bright buff, and with irregular black transverse bars; 

 hind neck bare, covered by the feathers of the foreneck ; chin and throat 

 fulvous, with a median rufescent line ; foreneck and breast the same, each 

 leather with irregular dark brown, nearly black bars and spots; lower breast 



