NYCTICOBAX. 397 



1568. Nycticorax griseus. The Night Heron. 



Ardea nycticorax & A. grisea, L. Syst. Nat. i, pp. 235, 239 (1766). 



Nycticorax griseus, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xv, p. 373; id. Cat. p. 281 ; 

 Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 758 ; Hume fy Henders. Lah. to Yark. p. 296 ; 

 Ball, S. F. ii, p. 435 ; Butler, 8. F. iv, p. 24 ; Oates, S. F. v r 

 p. 168; Anders. Yunnan Exped., Aves, p. 690; Hume fy Dav. 

 S. F. vi, p. 484 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 231 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 309 : 

 Hume, Cat. no. 937 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 361 ; Ley ye, Birds Ceyl. 



p. 387 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 149. 

 Nyctiardea nycticorax, Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 254 ; Hume, 



N. $ E. p. 624 ; id. S. F. i, p. 256 ; ii, pp. 315, 483 ; iii, p. 192 ; 



Armstrong, S. F. iv, p. 350 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 259 ; id. in Hume's 



N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 258. 

 Nycticorax nycticorax, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 146. 



Wdk, Kwdk, Tar bagla, Kokrai, H. ; Gadri, Sind ; Kowa dauk, 

 Batchka, Beng. ; Chinta wakha, Tel. ; Sannari, Tarn. (Ceylon) ; Ihz kana 

 koka, Cing. ; Lin-wet, Burm. 



Fig. 96. Head of N. griseus. ^. 



Coloration. Crown and nape (the feathers of which are con- 

 siderably lengthened), back, and scapulars black, glossed with 

 metallic green ; a few narrow white feathers of great length from 

 the nape ; forehead, a streak over the eye, cheeks, chin, throat, 

 fore neck, breast, and abdomen white ; sides and back of neck, 

 sides of body, wings, rump, and tail light ashy with a pinkish 

 tinge, darkest on tertiaries. 



Young birds are brown above, darkest on the crown, streaked 

 with buS shaft-stripes, and with triangular buff tips to the back- 

 feathers and wing-coverts ; lower plumage white streaked with 

 brown, quills and tail-feathers ashy brown with white tips. 



Bill black, yellowish at the base, lores and orbits yellowish 

 green, irides blood-red, feet yellowish green (Jerdon) ; in the 

 breeding- season the bill is black, eyelids and facial skin dull livid, 

 legs and toes pale rufous (Oates}. 



Length 23 ; tail 4; wing 11 -5 ; tarsus 3 ; bill from gape 3-8. 



