32 ARDEID^E 



DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 



PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial. Top of head, back of 

 neck and back, greenish-black ; primaries and tail, 1 black, 

 with a brownish tinge ; rest of head, throat, neck, breast 

 and abdomen, buff-colour, richer in shade about the neck 

 and head ; breast and flanks marked with a few dark 

 stripes ; wing-coverts, chiefly pale buff. 



Adult female nuptial. Brown shade on the head ; rest 

 of head and back of neck, yellowish-red ; back, brown ; 

 wing-coverts, dark buff ; breast and abdomen, buff, streaked 

 with varying shades of brown. 



Adult winter, male and female. Similar to the nuptial 

 plumage. 



Immature, male and female. Resembles the female, but 

 the upper parts are duller in colour. 



BEAK. Yellow. 



FEET. Greenish-yellow. 



IRIDES. Bright yellow. 



AVERAGE MEASUREMENTS. 



TOTAL LENGTH ... ... ... 13 in. 



WING 5 



BEAK I'lO ,, 



TARSO-METATARSUS 1*75 ,, 



EGG.. ... 1*4 x 1 in. 



Allied Species and Representative Forms. Ardetta 

 podicipes, smaller, with more rufous, is the South African 

 representative; A. sinensis and A. cinnamonea are Eastern 

 and Southern representatives. The former has a brown 

 back. Allied species are also found in Australia and 

 America. 



1 The genus Ardetta resembles the true Bitterns (Botaurus) in having 

 only ten soft tail-feathers and two pair of powder-down tracts. Herons 

 have twelve tail-feathers and three pairs of powder- down tracts 

 (Saunders). 



