NYCTICORAX. 663 



with long, lax, feathers, which are buff, with broad longitudinal black stripes ; 

 flanks the same ; abdomen rufous buff, with narrow dark mesial streaks ; back 

 and scapulars black, the feathers edged, barred and mottled with buff ; tail 

 buff, thickly mottled and with zigzag markings of dusky ; primaries and 

 secondaries dark brown barred with rufous ; wing coverts buff, barred and 

 mottled with dusky brown ; bill pale yellow, dusky above ; orbits yellow ; 

 irides gamboge yellow ; legs greenish yellow. 



Length. 30 inches; wing 13-5 ; tail 4*5 ; tarsus 3-75 to 3*9. 



Hal. Sind, the Deccan, Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, and 

 nearly all India, Burmah, and Ceylon ; Central and Southern Europe, Persia, 

 Nubia, Beloochistan and S. Afghanistan. 



The Bittern is a shy solitary bird ; it is never seen on the wing during the 

 day, but sits hid among the reeds, rushes and other rank vegetation that 

 prevail in the marsh, or bog where it may have taken up its abode. It is said 

 to defend itself fiercely against a dog or falcon, with both its bill and claws, 

 the bill with its extremely sharp point being however chiefly made use of. It 

 is said to have been esteemed in falconry, owing to its habit, when flown 

 at, of ascending in spiral circles, high up in the air, to keep above its enemy. 

 Selby adds " Should this manoeuvre fail, it then prepares for the descent of 

 the hawk, by setting its sharp bill perpendicularly upwards, upon which its 

 antagonist frequently transfixes itself." Its boom or note is said to resemble 

 the bellowing of a bull. It is also often uttered while the bird is soaring in 

 the air, but the sound is feeble, compared with the hollow booming noise 

 which it makes at night during the breeding season. Jerdon says it is excel- 

 lent eating, not fishy in the smallest degree, and has a high game flavour. 



Gen. Nycticorax. Stepk. 



Bill long, sharp, the gape extending below the eyes ; nostrils in a lateral 

 groove covered by membranous scale ; wings with the 2nd and 3rd quills 

 longest ; claw of mid-toe serrated ; tarsi irregularly scaled. 



1362. NyctiCOrax griseUS (Linn.), Bodd., Tab. P. E. 758, 759; 

 Naum., Vogt. t. 225; Gould, B. Eur. pi. 279; Jerd., B. Ind. iii. 758, No. 

 937 ; Dresser, B. Eur. vi. p. 299, pi. ; Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 114 ; Murray, 

 Vert. Zool., Sind, p. 276 ; Legge, B. Ceylon, p. 1165. Nyctiardea nycticorax, 

 Hume, Nests and Eggs Ind. B. p. 624. Ardea grisea, Linn., Syst. Nat. i. 

 p. 235; Str. F. vi. p. 415 ; Murray, Hdbk., Zool., #v., Sind, p. 228. (Gadri, 

 Sind). The NIGHT HERON. 



Forehead and supercilium, also the chin, throat and a narrow mesial line 

 on the foreneck white ; under tail coverts, breast and abdomen white, with a 

 creamy tinge ; top of head and nape, also the back and scapulars black, gloss- 

 ed with green ; lengthened crest feathers 6 7 inches long, narrow and white, 



