298 HERONS, STORKS, AND IBISES 



a still smaller species, measuring only 19 inches in length ; and is of special interest 

 as forming a connecting link between the others members of the genus and the 

 night-herons. Its distinctive features are the great length of the beak, and the 

 presence of a mane-like crest extending from the back of the head all down the 

 neck. In the full plumage the feathers on the top of the head are yellowish 

 brown, with dark streaks ; those of the crest are white, with black borders ; the 

 sides of the head and neck are reddish buff; the interscapulars and long hair-like 

 feathers of the back pale reddish brown ; and the remainder of the plumage white. 

 The beak is blue at the base and black at the tip ; the lore green ; and the legs are 

 yellowish green, with black claws. Essentially a South European and African 

 form, the squacco ranges in summer over the more northern parts of the continent, 

 and has been taken on a considerable number of occasions in the British Islands. 



The night-herons, of which the European species {Nycticorax 

 grisews) is the best known, are comparatively small birds, taking 

 their name from their habit of spending the day in sleep and waking up in the 

 evening to pass the greater part of the night in searching for food. They are 

 distinguished by the relatively short beak being very thick at the base and 

 slightly bent down at the tip ; by the moderately long and stout legs, in which 

 a portion of the tibia is naked, and the metatarsus is longer than the third toe ; 

 the very broad wings ; and also by the plumage, with the exception of some three 

 thread-like plumes from the back of the head being smoother and more compact 

 than in the true herons. The scutes on the front of the metatarsus are six-sided, 

 and the tail has twelve feathers. In the adult of the common species, the crown 

 of the head, nape, upper back, and shoulders are blackish green, the remainder 

 of the upper -parts and the sides of the neck ashy grey; the under -parts 

 pale straw-colour; and the head plumes (which in old birds may be increased 

 above the ordinary three) pure white. The iris is a fine purple-red, the beak 

 black with a yellow base, the lore green, and the foot greenish yellow. In 

 the young bird the head plumes are absent, the general colour of the upper 

 plumage is brown with longitudinal rusty yellow and yellowish white flecks, 

 while the under-parts have a whitish, and the neck a yellow ground with brown 

 markings ; both the iris and beak being brown. In total length the night-heron 

 measures about 23 inches. 



The genus has an almost world-wide distribution, being found in regions as 

 remote from one another as Britain and New Zealand ; and the common European 

 species has likewise a very wide range. In Northern Europe the latter is a 

 comparatively rare visitor, and it is said to be becoming less numerous in the north 

 of Germany and Holland, where it breeds ; but it is abundant in Spain, Italy, and 

 the Danubian provinces. Thence it extends eastwards through Palestine to India, 

 Burma, China, and Japan, as well as the Malayan Islands; while it ranges 

 throughout Africa, and is represented in North America by a rather larger race, 

 which in South America passes into a darker variety. The habitat of the night- 

 heron is generally in thickly-wooded districts, and by preference in the near 

 neighbourhood of swamps ; although not unfrequently these birds inhabit groves 

 at considerable distances from water, from whence they make long nocturnal 

 flights to their fishing-grounds. Except during the breeding-season, they seldom, 



