ARDEID^ ERYTHROCNUS 77 



the year (Andersson), Nocana, July (Fleck) ; Portuguese East 

 Africa Tete (Kirk), Zumbo, October (Alexander). 



Habits. Like other Herons the Squacco is found about swamps 

 and sluggish rivers ; it is usually seen singly or in pairs, seldom in 

 large parties. It is an inactive bird, spending the greater part of its 

 time in one position, with its head drawn in between its shoulders 

 like a Bittern. Its food consists chiefly of aquatic animals, such as 

 frogs and water-insects, but grasshoppers, beetles and small crabs 

 were found in the stomachs of individuals examined by Ayres. 



There can be little doubt that this species nests in South Africa, 

 but no observations on this point have been hitherto recorded. In 

 Europe it builds in colonies in company with other members of the 

 family ; the nest is composed of sticks, and placed in low trees 

 or bushes in flooded marshes ; the eggs, of the usual greenish- 

 blue colour, are from four to six in number, and measure about 

 1-5 x 1-1. 



Genus VI. ERYTHROCNUS. 



Type. 

 Erythrocnus, Sliarpe, Bull. B. 0. C. iii, p. 39 



(1894) E. rufiventris. 



Bill moderate, the culmen hardly longer than the tarsus, and 

 slightly shorter than the middle toe and claw ; the tips of both 

 mandibles serrated, wings rather short and rounded, the second and 

 third primaries the longest ; only the last half-inch of the tarsus 

 bare of feathers ; tail short, of twelve feathers ; plumage slaty and 

 rufous, with no elongated ornamental plumes or dorsal train, but 

 with a rather full neck frill and elongated scapulars overhanging 

 the wings. 



The single species here described, confined to South Africa, is 

 the only one referred to this genus. 



596. Erythrocnus rufiventris. Rufous-Bellied Heron. 



A.rdea rufiventris, Sundev. Oefv. K. Vet. Akad. Forli. StocJth. 1850, p. 

 110; Layard, Ibis, 1871, p. 105; Ayres, Ibis, 1871, p. 265, pi. ix, 

 1880, p. 269, 1886, p. 294 ; Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. 

 p. 287 (1872); Holub fr Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 273 (1882); 

 Sliarpe, ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. p. 713 (1884); Hellmayr, Journ. 

 Ornith. 1902, p. 235 [Pienaars River] . 



