NIGHT HERON 



29 



DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 



PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial. Top of head, nape 

 of neck, and back, glossy greenish-black ; rest of neck 1 , 

 wings and tail, grey ; forehead and fine stripe over the eye, 

 breast and abdomen, white ; the crest is best developed 

 in old males, and consists of three or more long, thin, 

 white plumes ; these are erectile, and when the bird 

 becomes excited, they are raised, together with the shorter 

 feathers of the crown, like those of an angry cockatoo. 

 (Payne-Gallwey, ' Letters to Young Shooters,' Third Series, 

 pp. 223, 224.) 



FIG. 6. HEAD OF NIGHT HERON. Nat size. 



Adult female nuptial. Duller in colour than the male, 

 with a shorter head-crest. 



Adult winter, male and female. The long plumes of the 

 crest are absent. 



Immature, male and female. Back and wings, nut-brown 

 with lighter streaks and white spots ; breast and abdomen 

 striped with white, yellow and brown ; crest absent. 



BEAK. Black, the lower segment having a grey shade. 



FEET. Yellow. 



IRIDES. Bright red. 



1 The neck and dorsal-plumes of the Night Heron are not long and 

 filamentous. 



