26 



DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 



PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial. Head and back of 

 neck, pale buff, striped with brownish-black lines ; the head- 

 plumes, long and pointed, are pure white edged with 

 black ; sides and front of neck, rich buff ; back, yellowish- 

 brown with a tinge of purple ; dorsal-plumes, long and 

 filamentous ; wing-coverts, light buff; rest of plumage, white. 



Adult female nuptial. Similar in colour to the male, 

 but with less developed plumes. 



Adult winter, male and female. The long plumes are 

 absent. 



Immature, male and female. The general colour is not 

 so pure as that of the adult plumage, and shows much 

 greyish-brown ; the streaking on the neck is more pro- 

 nounced, and there is a considerable amount of brown 

 on the back and on the inner secondaries. 



BEAK. Base, rich blue ; point, blackish. 



FEET. Yellowish-pink ; soles, yellow. 



IBIDES. Yellow. 



AVERAGE MEASUREMENTS. 



TOTAL LENGTH ......... 20 in. 



WING ............ 9 ,, 



BEAK ............ 2*6 



TARSO-METATARSUS ...... 2 '8 ,, 



EGG .. 1*5 X 1*1 in. 



NIGHT HERON. Nycticorax griseus (Linnaeus). 



Coloured Figures. Gould, * Birds of Great Britain, vol. iv, pi. 

 26 ; Dresser, ' Birds of Europe,' vol. vi, pi. 402 ; Lilford, 

 ' Coloured Figures,' vol. vii, pi. 11. 



The Night Heron, though far from common, may be 

 regarded as an annual spring and autumn migrant to the 

 British Isles. It has been more often recorded, in both 

 Great Britain and Ireland, than the Squacco Heron. In 

 England it appears to have visited the west and north less 

 frequently than the other districts. It has occurred four 

 times in the south of Scotland, several times in Argyllshire, 

 and once in Aberdeenshire. Moreover, on October 12th, 

 1896, a specimen was shot on Benbecula, after aheavy gale 

 from the south. The bird, an immature male, is heretofore 



