78 NIGHT HERON. 



the bird has the habit of erecting when angry or alarmed; the 

 cheeks, neck, and whole lower parts, are white, tinctured with 

 yellowish cream, and under the wings with very pale ash; back 

 and scapulars of the same deep dark blue, glossed with green, 

 as that of the crown ; rump and tail coverts, as well as the whole 

 wings and tail, very pale ash; legs and feet a pale yellow cream 

 colour; inside of the middle claw serrated. 



The female differed in nothing as to plumage from the male, 

 but in the wings being of rather a deeper ash; having not only 

 the dark deep green-blue crown and back, but also the long 

 pendent white plumes from the hind-head. Each of the females 

 contained a large cluster of eggs, of various sizes. 



The young (fig. 3. ) was shot soon after it had left the nest, 

 and differed very little from those which had been taken from 

 the trees, except in being somewhat larger. This measured 

 twenty-one inches in length, and three feet in extent; the ge- 

 neral colour above a very deep brown, streaked with reddish 

 white, the spots of white on the back and wings being triangu- 

 lar, from the centre of the feather to the tip; quills deep duskv, 

 marked on the tips with a spot of white; eye vivid orange; bel- 

 ly white, streaked with dusky, the feathers being pale dusky, 

 streaked down their centres with white; legs and feet light 

 green; inside of the middle claw slightly pectinated; body and 

 wings exceedingly thin and limber; the down still stuck in slight 

 tufts to the tips of some of the feathers. 



These birds also breed in great numbers in the neighbourhood 

 of New Orleans, for being in that city in the month of June, I 

 frequently observed the Indians sitting in market with the dead 

 and living young birds for sale; also numbers of Gray Owls 

 (Strix nebulosd], and the White Ibis (Tantalus albus,) for 

 which nice dainties I observed they generally found purchasers. 



The food of the Night Heron or Qua-Bird, is chiefly compos- 

 ed of small-fish, which it takes by night Those that I opened had 

 a large expansion of the gullet immediately under the bill, that 

 narrowed thence to the stomach, which is a large oblong pouch, 

 and was filled with fish. The teeth of the pectinated claw were 



