CLASSIFIED NOTES 549 



In Africa it breeds iu Marocco, Algeria, and Egypt, and apparently also in S. Africa (Orange 

 River Colony). In Asia it apparently nests in Mesopotamia, but in India and the Malayan 

 Arrhipelago is replaced by the allied cattle-egret, which also ranges to S. Japan. As a casual 

 visitor it has occurred once in England (Devon, 1805), and also in S. France, Italy, Greece, 

 and Slavonia, and in Africa ranges south to Cape Colony. [F. c. R. j.] 



SQUACCO-HERON [Ardeola ralloldes (Scopoli) ; Ardea ralloidea Scopoli. French, heron 

 crabifr ; German, Schopfreiher ; Italian, sgarza ciuffeto]. 



1. Description. Recognisable at all times by the streaked head and the long crest 

 of black feathers, mesially streaked with buff and margined with white. Length 18 in. 

 [457 mm.]. The adult male in breeding plumage has the feathers of the top of the head 

 and sides of the neck golden buft' streaked with black, plumes on the back of the head 

 lengthened into a long crest, whitish buff down the centre, margined on each side with black ; 

 mantle and ornamental plumes pale vinous ; lower back, rump, and tail pure white ; longer 

 scapulars golden straw colour ; primaries, secondaries, under wing-coverts, and axillaries pure 

 white ; throat white, shading into golden buff on the fore-neck, chest, and upper breast, where 

 the feathers are greatly elongated ; lower breast, belly, and under tail-coverts pure white ; iris 

 pale chrome ; bare skin about the eye, gape, bill, and nostrils bright grass-green ; bill for 

 about an inch black, intermediate portion of bill and base bright ashy blue ; under surface 

 of tarsi and toes ashy, with a tinge of light chrome about the joints and feet. Adult female 

 similar to the male, but smaller, with a somewhat shorter crest, and the dorsal train not so fully 

 developed, [w. p. p. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. This species breeds in the basins of the Mediterranean, Black, and 

 Caspian Seas, as well as throughout the greater part of Africa. In Europe it nests in South 

 Spain, and has been suspected of breeding in France, in Dalmatia, Herzegovina, Servia, 

 Slavonia, very sparingly in Hungary, Roumania, Bulgaria, and in Russia on the lower Dniester 

 und Dnieper, the Kief and Ekaterinoslav governments, the Crimea and Caucasus, the mouths 

 of the Volga and Ural (Buturlin). In Asia it breeds in Transcaspia, Syria, and Mesopotamia 

 to the Persian Gulf, and it is sedentary in Africa, breeding not only from Marocco to Egypt, 

 but also south to Madagascar and apparently in South Africa. European birds are migrants, 

 wintering in Africa and occurring casually in Central Europe south of the Baltic. It has been 

 recorded from the Azores, in the Canaries, and over sixty times from the British Isles. 

 [F. c. R. J.] 



NIGHT-HERON [Nycticorax nycticorax (Linnaeus) ; Nycticorax griseus (Linnaeus). French, 

 heron bihoreau ; German, Nachtreiher ; Italian, nitticora], 



1. Description. Recognised by the glossy bluish black or greenish back. Total length 

 about 18 in. [457 mm.]. The sexes are alike, having the forehead white, continued into a 

 broad superciliary streak ; head, back of the neck, mantle, and scapulars black, glossed with 

 dark bluish green ; from the back of the neck spring two lengthened narrow plumes of white 

 about 3J inches long ; lower back, rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail grey ; throat, cheeks, under 

 wing-coverts, and remainder of under parts white, washed on the sides with delicate grey, which 

 colour surrounds the back of the neck ; iris crimson ; upper mandible slaty black, with a whitish 

 streak near the edges, central portion of lower mandible flesh colour, greenish towards the base ; 

 skin round the eyes pale green ; tarsi and feet pale yellow. The adult in the winter plumage is 

 similar to the above, but greener on the head and back, and wanting the white plumes on the 

 nape. The young bird is brownish black above, with large spots of white, and the under surface 

 white heavily streaked with blackish brown, [w. p. p. and T. w.] 

 VOL. IV. 4 A 



