THE LITTLE YELLOW BITTERN. 257 



upper mandible and nearly the whole lower mandible yellow ; remainder 

 of bill black ; iris yellow ; legs and toes green ; the back of the tarsus and 

 the soles of the toes yellow ; claws yellowish brown. 



Length 23 inches, tail 2, wing 6'2, tarsus 2, bill from gape 2'8. The 

 female is rather smaller. 



The Chestnut Bittern is found distributed over the whole of Burmah, 

 but somewhat capriciously. It is abundant in the plains of Southern 

 Pegu, but rare or altogether absent in the northern portions ; Captain 

 Wardlaw Ramsay observed it at Tonghoo, however, and also at Rangoon. 

 Mr. Davison observed it in Tenasserim from Amherst down to Bankasoon. 

 Mr. Blyth states that it is common in Burmah, and consequently he is 

 likely to have received it from Arrakan. 



It occurs over the greater part of India and Ceylon, in the Andaman 

 Islands, the Indo-Burmese countries, China, Cochin China, the Malay 

 peninsula and islands to Java and the Philippines. 



A. eurythma is an allied species of great beauty which occurs in China 

 and North Asia. 



This Bittern is met with in plains of grass and in paddy-fields ; it is 

 nocturnal in its habits, very shy and seldom seen. I have frequently found 

 its nest in July and August a small structure of grass placed on the 

 ground at the edges of swamps or on the small embankments between 

 paddy-fields where the vegetation is rank. The eggs, generally six in 

 number, are dull white. 



622. ARDETTA SINENSIS. 

 THE LITTLE YELLOW BITTERN. 



Ardea sinensis, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 642. Ardetta sinensis, Jerd. B. 2nd. ii. 

 p. 755 ; Wold. Tram. Zool. Soc. viii. p. 99 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 623 ; id. 

 S. F. i. p. 308, ii. p. 311, iii. p. 193 ; Salvad. Ucc. Born. p. 354 ; Bl B. Burm. 

 p. 160 j David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 448 ; Legge, Birds Ceylon, p. 1156; Hume 

 $ Dav. S. F. vi. p. 484 j Oate.s, S. F. vii. p. 52 j Cripps, S. F. vii. p. 308 ; Hume, 

 S. F. viii. p. 114 ; Gates, S. F. x. p. 243 ; Kelham, Ibis, 1882, p. 196. 



Description. Male. Forehead, crown and nape, primaries, secondaries 

 and tail dark slaty brown or nearly black ; sides of the head and neck 

 cinnamon-rufous, the hind neck of a deeper tint; chin nearly white; 

 throat and whole lower plumage pale fulvous, deeper on the fore neck, 

 the lower breast with a broad partially concealed brown or blackish band ; 

 under wing-coverts white; back and scapulars rufous earthy brown; 

 wing-coverts and tertiaries sandy fulvous ; rump ashy. 



The female has the sides of the head and neck less bright and more of 

 VOL. ii. s 



