NIGHT HERON. 79 



thirty-five or forty in number, and as they contained particles 

 of the down of the bird, showed evidently, -from this circum- 

 stance, that they act the part of a comb, to rid the bird of ver- 

 min, in those parts which it cannot reach with its bill. 



Note. In those specimens which I have procured in the 

 breeding season, I have taken notice that the lores and orbits 

 were of a bluish white; but in a female individual, which I shot 

 in East Florida, in the month of March, these parts were of a 

 delicate violet colour. 



The Brown Bittern of Catesby, (Vol. i, pi. 78) which has 

 not a little confounded ornithologists, is undoubtedly the young 

 of the Night Heron. Dr. Latham says of the former, " we be- 

 lieve it to be a female of the Green Heron. They certainly 

 differ," continues he, "as Brisson has described them; but by 

 comparison, no one can fail of being of the opinion here advanc- 

 ed." If the worthy naturalist had had the same opportunities 

 of comparing the two birds in question as we have had, he 

 would have been as confident that they are not the same, as we 

 are . Ord. 



