BIRDS OF KANSAS. 129 



slight lilaccous tinge; wings, rump, upper tail coverts and tail deeper ash gray. 

 Occipital plumes pure white. Bill black; lores and orbit yellowish green; iris 

 bright red; legs and feet yellow; claws brown. Young, second year: Similar to 

 the adult, but scapulars and interscapulars cinereous like the wings, and the 

 white of the forehead obscured by the blackish of the crown; the colors gen- 

 erally more somber, with neck and lower parts more decidedly ashy. Young, 

 first year: Above, grayish brown, with more or less of a cinnamon cast, espe- 

 cially on the remiges, each feather marked with a medial tear-shaped or wedge- 

 shaped stripe of white, the remiges with small white terminal spots; rectrices 

 plain ash gray. Sides of the head and neck and entire lower parts striped 

 longitudinally with grayish brown and dull white; chin and throat plain white 

 medially. Bill light apple green, the upper half of the maxilla blackish, the 

 mandible with a tinge of the same near the end; lores light apple green; eyelids 

 similar, but brighter, more yellowish, their inner edge -black; iris dark chrome 

 yellow or dull orange; legs and feet light yellowish apple green; claws grayish 

 horn color." 



Stretch of 

 Length. wing. Wing: Tail. Tarsus. Bill. 



Male 26.00 46.50 12.25 5.25 8.20 3.00 



Female... 25.00 45.00 11.50 4.75 3.00 2.90 



This species has the most extended distribution of any of the 

 family; breeding south of the northern regions into southern 

 South America. These birds live together in societies, and as- 

 semble in large numbers at their breeding grounds and roosting 

 places, where they sleep and rest during the day, sallying forth 

 at dusk for their feeding grounds, uttering as they go an occa- 

 sional hollow, guttural "Qua," and, for this habit, are generally 

 known as the "Qua-bird." They seldom feed by daylight, ex- 

 cept while rearing their young, when the clamor for food de- 

 mands their almost constant attention. 



Their food consists of fishes, frogs, Crustacea, and most small 

 forms of life in the shallow waters, swamps and marshy ground. 

 While feeding these birds move with a slow, stately tread, with 

 body bent and head drawn back, ready for a quick and unerring 

 stroke at their prey. 



Their manner of flight is similar to that of the family, but flap 

 of wings is at all times noiseless. 



Their nests are placed on trees, bushes, broken-down reeds 

 and rushes. I found, April 12th, 1881, a small flock nesting 

 on the dry, hard ground, under a few low bushes and weeds, 

 upon a small island in Nueces Bay, Texas; no nests, only a 

 slight lining of grasses. In trees and bushes, they build on the 



