580 ARDEID^E. 



the centre of each feather the darkest and most uniform 

 in colour, the edges freckled with the darker brown on a 

 ground of yellow brown ; all the primaries except the first 

 three and all the secondaries brownish black, tipped with 

 chestnut, which is also freckled with brownish black ; all 

 the shafts black ; tertials freckled dark brown, red brown, 

 and buff ; upper tail-coverts buff, freckled with two shades 

 of brown ; tail-feathers almost uniform reddish brown ; 

 chin and front of the neck a mixture of white, buff, and 

 dark brown in streaks ; ear-coverts, and a line descending 

 therefrom, yellow brown : between this and the throat in 

 front an elongated descending streak of black ; the loose 

 elongated feathers of the front and sides of the neck down 

 to the breast, are brown along the centre, bounded by a 

 darker line, and with broad edges of pale buff: breast and 

 belly buff, each feather with an elongated brown central 

 patch ; vent and under tail-coverts uniform buff; legs and 

 toes greenish brown ; the claws darker ; the middle claw 

 pectinated. 



The whole length is about twenty -seven inches. From 

 the carpal joint to the end of the wing, eleven inches and 

 a half: the first three quill -feathers nearly equal in length, 

 and the longest in the wing ; the first quill -feather differs 

 in form from the second and third, being remarkably point- 

 ed at the end, while the second and third are rounded. 



