396 ARDEID^. 



with green ; wing-coverts dark glossy green, narrowly margined 

 on the outer side with pale buff ; quills black, more or less glossed 

 with green, and with traces of whitish edges and tips ; upper tail- 

 coverts and tail black with a green gloss, lower parts ashy grey. 

 Hume points out that very old birds lose the white band on the 

 fore neck, the whitish patch behind the eye, and the buff margins 

 to the wing-coverts, whilst the lower parts are reddish, abdomen 

 chocolate-brown. 



Young birds have the crown dark brown or black with some 

 whitish shaft-stripes ; upper parts, w wings, and tail brown, the 

 feathers with triangular buff terminal spots ; lower parts white, 

 streaked with brown. 



Bill black above, greenish yellow below ; facial skin green ; 

 iricles yellow ; legs and toes green, front of tarsus and toes dusky, 

 soles orange (Oates). 



Length about 18; tail 2'5; wing 7; tarsus 1*9; bill from 

 gape 3. 



Distribution. Throughout the greater part of the Oriental Eegion, 

 with the Mascarene Islands. This bird occurs in most parts of 

 India, Ceylon, and Burma, except in dry or treeless regions and 

 the higher Himalayas. 



The race inhabiting the Andamans and Nicobars is distinguished 

 as a subspecies by Sharpe under the name of B. spodiogaster, on 

 account of its darker grey coloration, especially on the under 

 surface. 



Habits, fyc. During the daytime this little Heron conceals itself 

 in bushes arid trees by the side of wooded streams, rivers, and 

 canals, or in mangroves on the banks of creeks, and issues at dusk 

 to look for crabs, frogs, small fish, &c. It is less nocturnal than 

 the Bitterns, and may occasionally be seen fishing in the daytime 

 in shady places. It is resident, and breeds in most parts of India 

 between May and August, laying from three to five pale sea-green 

 eggs in a small stick nest on a tree. The eggs measure about 

 1-62 by 1-21. 



Genus NYCTICOEAX, Eafin., 1815. 



This genus contains the Night Herons, which are easily dis- 

 tinguished from all other Indian Herons by their stouter and 

 deeper bill, much compressed, with the culmen considerably 

 curved ; upper mandible distinctly notched near the tip. The neck 

 is short and thick ; the head is crested, with a few very narrow 

 elongate feathers from the nape; wings rounded ; tail short ; 12 

 rectrices ; only a small portion of the tibia is bare, tarsus re- 

 ticulated. 



In the British Museum Catalogue eight species are described, 

 ranging over the warm and temperate parts of the world ; one is 

 Indian. 



