ARDEA.] AVES GRALLATORES. 189 



hitherto occurred in this country. It is a native of the warmer parts of 

 Europe, as well as of Asia and Africa, but is not found in America, " the 

 Ardea (equinoctialis, with which it has been confounded, being a distinct 

 species, and confined to that continent." Habits unknown. 



* * A small portion of the tibia naked ; tarsi short. 



176. A. Ralloides 9 Scop. (Squacco Heron.) Occi- 

 pital feathers very long, white edged with black : neck, 

 back, and scapulars, pale buff-orange. 



A. Ralloides, Temm. Man. d'Orn. torn. n. p. 581. Squacco Heron, 

 Selb. Illust. vol. n. p. 25. pi. 6. Mont. Orn. Diet. Supp. Shaw, 

 Zool. vol. xi. p. 574. 



DIMENS. Entire length seventeen inches: length of the bill (from the 

 forehead) two inches six lines, (from the gape) three inches one line ; of 

 the tarsus two inches ; of the naked part of the tibia eleven lines and 

 a half; of the middle toe, claw included, two inches seven lines; of the 

 tail three inches one line ; from the carpus to the end of the wing eight 

 inches eleven lines. 



DE SCRIPT. (Mature plumage.) Forehead and crown yellowish, streaked 

 with black ; a pendent crest from the occiput, consisting of eight or ten 

 very long narrow white feathers edged at the sides with black : throat 

 white ; neck, breast, upper part of the back, and scapulars, pale buff 

 orange ; middle and lower regions of the back inclining to ferruginous 

 chestnut, the feathers on those parts very long, with disunited webs, and 

 floating loosely over the tail : all the rest of the plumage pure white : bill 

 bluish green at the base, the tip black : lore and orbits gray tinged with 

 green : irides yellow : feet yellow tinged with green. (Plumage during 

 the first and second year.) " Without the long occipital feathers ; head, 

 neck, and wing-coverts, ferruginous brown, with large longitudinal 

 spots of a darker tint ; throat, rump, and tail, pure white ; upper part of 

 the back and scapulars of a more or less deep brown : upper mandible 

 greenish brown ; lower mandible greenish yellow : orbits green : irides 

 very pale yellow : feet greenish ash." TEMM. (Egg.) Unknown. 



A very rare, and only occasional visitant. Shot at Boyton in Wiltshire, 

 in 1775. A second specimen taken at Ormsby in Norfolk, in 1820; a 

 third killed in Cambridgeshire ; and a fourth, a female, at Bridgewater, 

 in the Summer of 1825. Common in some parts of the Continent. Fre- 

 quents marshes and the borders of rivers, &c. Food small fish, mollusca, 

 and insects. Said to build in trees. Obs. This species is the A. comata 

 of Pallas and some other authors. 



*** Tibia entirely feathered ; tarsi short. 



177- A. minuta, Linn. (Little Heron.) Crown, 

 back, scapulars, and secondaries, black, glossed with green ; 

 neck, wing-coverts, and under parts, reddish yellow. 



A. minuta, Temm. Man. (TOrn. torn. n. p. 584. Little Bittern, 

 Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. ii. App. p. 633. pi. 8. Mont. Orn. Diet, 

 and Supp. Selb. Illust. vol. n. p. 36. pi. 6*. Bew. Brit. Birds, 

 vol. ii. pp. 25, & 27. 



