AKDEID^l ' AEDETTA 87 



Ardetta podiceps, (nee Bp.} Gurney, Ibis, 1863, p. 330, 1873, p. 259, 



1877, p. 350 ; Shelley, Ibis, 1875, pp. 63, 86 ; Ayres, Ibis, 1878, p. 



300, 1880, p. 270, 1884, p. 233, 1886, p. 294 ; Sliarpe, Ibis, 1894, p. 



425 ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 158 (1896); Sliarpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 



225 (1898). 

 Ardea pusilla (nee Vieill.) Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 310 (1867) ; Gurney, 



Ibis, 1869, p. 300 ; Butler, Feilden, and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 344 ; 



Fleck, Journ. Ornith, 1894, p. 388. 



Botaurus pusillus, Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. p. 720 (1884). 

 Ardetta payesi, Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 367 (1901). 



Description. Adult Male. General colour above, including the 

 crown, which is strongly crested, back, scapulars, tail, primary 

 coverts and wing-quills glossy greenish- black ; wing- coverts pearly- 

 grey passing to a buffy-grey on the lesser series and becoming chest- 

 nut on the bend of the wing ; sides of the face including the eyebrow 

 and back of the neck vinous-chestnut, becoming paler, almost white, 

 on the chin and front of the neck ; below buffy-white, nearly pure 

 white on the abdomen; some long feathers at the sides of the breast, 

 blackish with buffy margins ; under wing-coverts and axillaries 

 white ; quills sooty-black below ; back of the neck bare but covered 

 over by the lengthened curling side feathers. 



Iris orange-red, bill pale-chrome, greenish towards the base, 

 dusky along the culrnen and at the tip ; legs and feet greenish. 



Length (with outstretched neck) about 14 ;*wing 5-1 ; tail 2-1 ; 

 culmen 2-0 ; tarsus 1*75 ; middle toe 1*9. 



The female is rather different from the male ; the back, including 

 the scapulars and inner secondaries is dark chestnut-brown, the 

 feathers edged with pale buff; the wings, tail and head are like 

 those of the male ; the chestnut of the neck is rather richer ; below 

 buffy-white with more or less distinct streaks of darker buff at the 

 base of the neck, these feathers concealing the black buff-edged 

 feathers of the breast. 



TJae young bird resembles the old female but is rather^ more 

 varied and streaky, especially on the wing-coverts and under 

 surface. 



Distribution. This Little Bittern is found throughout Africa 

 from Senegal and the White Nile southwards. In Madagascar it 

 is replaced by a closely allied form (A. podiceps) with which it has 

 been hitherto generally united, but from which it differs in its much 

 lighter coloured foreneck and under parts. 



Iii South Africa this Little Bittern is widely spread throughout 



