SQUACCO HERON. 563 



line, with a very narrow terminal margin of white; the 

 sides, front of the neck at the bottom, and the back, rich 

 buff colour ; interscapulars reddish brown ; the feathers 

 of the back elongated ; the webs disunited, each filament 

 having the appearance of a single hair, from which circum- 

 stance the term comata } hairy, has been applied to more 

 than one species ; the colour a pale reddish brown in 

 those upon the surface, passing into a delicate buff colour 

 in those underneath ; the wings white, the ends of some 

 of the coverts and tertials being tinged with buff; rump, 

 upper tail-coverts, and tail-feathers, white ; chin, throat, 

 belly, under surface of the wings, the axillary plume, 

 vent, and under surface of the tail-feathers, pure white ; 

 legs yellowish brown ; toes brown above, yellow under- 

 neath ; claws black. 



The whole length, from the point of the beak to the 

 end of the tail, is about nineteen inches. From the carpal 

 joint to the end of the wing, nine inches : the first and 

 third quill -feathers are equal in length, and only a very 

 little shorter than the second, which is the longest in the 

 wing. 



The sexes in plumage resemble each other at the same 

 age. 



In a younger bird, the descending dusky grey streaks 

 on the feathers of the neck are longer and broader, and 

 the lighter ground colour more mixed with brown; the 

 wing-coverts tinged with buff; but the plumage of the 

 back, and the ends of the tertials, are reddish brown ; and 

 I have observed that the younger the specimen the darker 

 are the feathers along the middle line of the back. 



By a communication from Sir George Musgrave to 

 Mr. Jesse, I have heard that a specimen of the Squacco 

 Heron was shot during the second week of July, 1845, 



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