LITTLE RED HERON 105 



feeding-ground it prefers is a spot on the borders of 

 a marshy stream shut in and overshadowed on all 

 sides by trees and tall rushes. There the bird sits 

 silent and solitary on a projecting root or dead 

 branch ; or stands motionless and knee-deep in the 

 water, intent on the small fry it feeds on. For whole 

 months it will be found every day in the same place* 

 When intruded on in its haunts it erects the feathers 

 of its head and neck, looking strangely alarmed or 

 angry, and flies away uttering a powerful, harsh, 

 grating cry. 



LITTLE RED HERON 



Ardetta involucris 



Above light fulvous, a black stripe on the nape ; front, stripe on 

 back of the neck, bend of wing and outer secondaries, chestnut-red ; 

 back striped with black ; wing-feathers ash-grey with red tips ; be- 

 neath yellowish white striped with brown ; beak yellow, feet green ; 

 length 13, wing 5 inches. 



THE Little Red, or Variegated, Heron which inhabits 

 Paraguay and Argentina, is the least of the family 

 to which it belongs, its body being no bigger than 

 that of the Common Snipe ; but in structure it is 

 like other Herons, except that its legs are a trifle 

 shorter in proportion to its size and its wings very 

 much shorter than in other species. The under 

 plumage is dull yellow in colour, while all the other 

 parts are variegated with marks of fuscous and 

 various shades of brown and yellow. The body is 



