ABDETTA. 401 



including the wing-coverts dark brown, with buff edges to the 

 feathers, and the lower surface streaked with dark brown 

 throughout. 



Bill purplish yellow; legs greenish yellow; irides orange- 

 yellow (Doig}. Bill pale grey, dusky along culmen ; orbital skin 

 pale green ; irides bright pale yellow ; feet green, claws black 

 (Sadly). 



Length about 14; tail 2; wing 5*75; tarsus 1*7; bill from 

 gape 2-5. 



Distribution. Europe south of lat. 60, Africa in winter, and 

 Central Asia as far east as Northern India. This Bittern is 

 common in Kashmir, where it breeds, and is found throughout the 

 Himalayas as far east as Nepal. It is also apparently a resident 

 in Sind, and has been obtained near Delhi and Etawah. 



Habits, fyc. This Bittern breeds both in the Himalayas and in 

 Sind in May and June ; it places its nest, composed of grass and 

 reeds, amongst rushes or wild rice, and lays 4 or 5 white eggs, 

 measuring 1*34 by 1. 



1571. Ardetta sinensis. The Yellow Bittern. 



Ardea sinensis, Gm. Syst. Nat. i, p. 642 (1788); Hume, N. & E. 



p. 623. 

 Ardetta sinensis, Blyth, Cat. p. 282 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 755 ; Godw.- 



Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 274 ; Hume, S. F. i, pp. 308, 422 ; 



ii, p. 311 ; Butler, S. F. v, p. 216 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 484 ; 



Oates, S. F. vii, p. 52 ; Sutler, ibid. p. 177 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 308 ; 



Hume, Cat. no. 934 ; Doig, 8. F. viii, p. 378 ; Legge, Birch Ceyl. 



p. 1156 ; Butler, S. F. ix, p. 434; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 257 ; Barnes, 



Birds Bom. p. 384 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 336 ; Oates in Hume's 



N. fy E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 255 ; Barnes, Journ. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi. 



p. 148 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 227. 

 Ardetta pulchra, Hume, S. F. i, pp. 305, 309, 422. 



Jun-lagla, H. ; Kat-bogla, Beng. ; Manual Nari, Tarn. (Ceylon) ; Metti 

 koi-otvaka, Cing. 



Coloration. Male. Crown and nape black, the grey edges of the 

 feathers often showing and forming streaks; sides of head and 

 neck vinous, becoming deeper rufous near the back of the neck, 

 and sometimes grey beside the crown ; back, scapulars, and ter- 

 tiaries yellowish to greyish brown ; wing-coverts yellowish tawny 

 to isabelline ; primary-coverts, primaries, secondaries, and tail 

 slaty black; rump ashy grey; chin, throat, and fore neck pale 

 yellowish buff, sides of throat white ; upper breast and abdomen 

 buff, lower breast-feathers blackish with buff edges, but concealed 

 by the long pectoral plumes. 



Female more rufous above, crown streaked with dull rufous ; 

 beak and scapulars brown or rufous brown with buff edges; a 

 dark ochreous-buff band down middle of chin and throat, breaking 

 up into streaks 011 the fore neck ; flanks streaked with brown. 



Young birds are even more streaked above and below, the pale 

 margins to the upper plumage are broader, and the streaks on the 



YOL. iv. 2 D 



