382 AKDEID^E. 



Bill yellowish, blue at base, black at tip ; orbits greenish- 

 yellow ; irides bright yellow ; legs and feet dull green. 



Adult in full breeding plumage has the head crested, with long 

 occipital white plumes ; head and neck greyish yellow ; the back 

 with the feathers decomposed, dark maroon ; wings, rump and 

 upper tail-coverts, tail, and all beneath, white. 



In non-breeding dress, the head, neck, and breast, are 

 fulvous with brown stripes, darkest on the head ; the upper 

 plumage pale ashy-brown ; wings, (except the uppermost tertials) 

 white, and the lower parts from the breast white ; thigh-coverts 

 fulvous. 



The Pond Heron is a common permanent resident throughout 

 the district. 



GENUS, Butorides, Blyth. 



Bill rather long, straight, moderately stout ; neck short, thickish ; 

 tibia feathered nearly to the joint ; tarsus short ; inner-toe short; 

 head crested ; feathers of the back and scapulars highly lanceolate ; 

 plumage dull blue. 



Bu^i^esjavamca, Horsf. 



931. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 752 ; Butler, Guzerat ; 

 Stray Feathers, Vol. IV, p. 24 ; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. 

 IX, p. 434 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 272 ; 

 Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India; Ibis, 1885, p. 136. 



THE LITTLE GREEN HERON. 



Length, 16 to 17 ; wing, 7 ; tail, 2'25 ; tarsus, 1'9 ; bill, 2'5. 



Bill black, pale yellow beneath ; lores yellowish -green ; irides 

 bright yellow ; legs pale yellow-green ; the soles dark yellow. 



Head, with lengthened occipital crest, glossy black ; a short 

 black line from below the eye, between which and the black 

 head the ear-coverts are greyish-white ; back and sides of neck 

 ashy-grey ; feathers of the back, including the scapulars and 

 feathers covering the tertials, lengthened, lanceolate, dull green ; 

 the upper ones with an ashy tinge ; rump reddish-ashy ; upper 

 tail-coverts greenish ; wing- coverts glossy green, edged with pale 

 fulvous ; quills dark slaty, narrowly tipped with white, and 

 passing into green on the tertials, edged with fulvous ; tail dark 

 slaty, and the lower plumage, with the thigh -co verts, ashy, with a 

 central line down the neck to the breast whitish ; the feathers 

 being white at the base and becoming albescent on the vent and 

 under tail-coverts. 



The Little Green Heron or Bittern is a common permanent 

 resident throughout the district, breeding in a similar manner to 

 the other members of the family. 



The following table may be of some use as it gives the average 

 dimension of the eggs ; but they are so much alike, that it is 

 advisable always to shoot a bird off the nest to avoid mistakes. 



