AHDETTA. 399 



into white, with black and rufous spots and blotches, on the lower 

 breast and abdomen ; lower tail-coverts mostly white. 



Young birds have a black crown with white or buff arrowhead- 

 shaped markings ; upper parts blackish brown with narrow wavy 

 and zigzag buff crossbars ; quills black, speckled with white at the 

 tips : lower parts rufous-buff, speckled and blotched with white 

 .and black, chin mostly white. There appears to be a gradual 

 passage into the adult plumage. 



Fig. 97. Head of (r. melanolophiis. \. 



Culmen black ; sides of upper mandible and the lower mandible 

 fleshy ; sides of face greenish and slaty ; irides golden yellow ; 

 legs and feet greenish, brown in front (Legge). 



Length 20 ; tail 3-8 ; wing 10-5 ; tarsus 2'75 ; bill from 

 gape 2-5. 



Distribution. A rare bird in Ceylon and in the hill- forests near 

 the Malabar coast of India as far north as the hills west of 

 Belgaum. It is not known to occur elsewhere in the Indian 

 Peninsula, but is found in Assam, Cachar, Manipur, Arrakan, 

 Pegu, Tenasserim, the Nicobar Islands, the Malay Peninsula, and 

 as far east as Formosa and Hainan, the Philippines, and Borneo. 



Habits, fyc. This Heron occurs chiefly in forests, and is said to 

 be a seasonal migrant to Ceylon, arriving about November, but if 

 so, it probably comes from India, not, as some ornithologists have 

 supposed, from the eastward. It breeds on the Malabar coast, 

 for Davidson, when in Kanara, obtained the young unable to fly ; 

 the nidification is, however, unknown. It is a bird of nocturnal 

 habits, roosting on trees in the day, and feeding at night on fish, 

 crabs, worms, &c. 



Genus ARDETTA, Gray, 1842. 



Bill straight, slight, culmen flat at the base; groove on each 

 side of the upper mandible broad and shallow; neck and legs 

 rather short, the back of the neck bare, but covered over by 

 lengthened feathers from the sides. Head with a short crest. 

 Scapulars and back-feathers normal, but the feathers of the upper 

 breast much lengthened and concealing the lower breast, though 

 not forming ornamental plumes. 



