404 ARDEIDJi. 



Doig $ Sutler, ibid. p. 504 ; Hume, Cat. p. 932 ; Doig, S. F. viii, 

 p. 376 ; Bingham, S. F. ix, p. 198 ; Davison, S. F. x, p. 416 : 

 Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 383 ; Littledale, Journ. Bom. N. H. Soc. 

 i, p. 200 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 335. 



Ardeiralla flavicollis, Oates, S. F. v, p. 167 ; Leyye, Birds Ceyl. 

 p. 1159; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 255; id. in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. 

 iii, p. 251. 



Dupetor flavicollis, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 247. 



Kdla-bagla, H. ; Nol-bogla, Beng. ; Ay-jan, Assamese ; Karu-Nari, 

 Tarn. (Ceylon) ; Karawal koka, Kalu koka, Cing. 



Coloration. Male. Crown and upjjfer parts throughout, with the 

 wings, dark slaty grey, sometimes almost black ; tail nearly black ; 

 sides of head slaty black ; a band of ochreous yellow down each 

 side of the neck ; chin and throat white with chestnut blotches, 

 which become large and mixed with black on the fore neck, where 

 the feathers are parti-coloured, one web generally buffy white, the 

 other partly chestnut, partly black ; breast and abdomen blackish 

 slaty, with white streaks on the upper breast and whitish edges to 

 the abdominal feathers. 



Females are browner. Young birds are dark brown, the feathers 

 of the upper parts with buff edges, the sides of the head chestnut, 

 more or less mixed with black, and the lower parts much browner 

 than in adults, and with broad whitish edges to the feathers of 

 the abdomen. 



Bill dusky reddish brown, lighter below; facial skin purplish 

 brown ; eyelids bluish ; iris golden-brown or pale red ; legs dark 

 brown (Oates) ; irides yellow, in some with an outer circle of red 

 (Jerdori). 



Length about 23 ; tail 2*7 ; wing 8 ; tarsus 2-5 ; bill from gape 4. 



Distribution. This Bittern has been found on the Eastern Nara, 

 Sind, by Doig, also by the same observer near Ahmedabad, and by 

 Littledale near Baroda, by Jerdon in Malabar and near Madras, 

 by Davison on the Nilgiris and in the Wynaad, by Bourdillon in 

 Travancore, and by several people in Ceylon. It has not been 

 obtained elsewhere in India, so far as I am aware, west of Calcutta ; 

 but it becomes more common in Eastern Bengal, Assam, Sylhet, 

 and Burma, and ranges thence to China, the Philippines, and 

 Celebes. 



Habits, fyc. The Black Bittern closely resembles the species of 

 Ardetta in habits, but is more exclusively nocturnal. It is said to 

 have a deep booming call. It has been found breeding in Sind by 

 Doig about June, and in Pegu by Oates in July and August ; it 

 makes a nest of twigs, leaves of grass or aquatic plants, generally 

 on a thorny bush in a swamp, and lays four very pale green eggs, 

 measuring about 1'66 by 1*26. 



