ARDE A NYCTICORAX 573 



bluish at base, yellow in the middle, black towards the tip ; bare orbital 

 skin greenish yellow ; legs pale yellowish green, soles and tibiae pale 

 yellow ; iris golden yellow. Culmen 2'7, wing 8'5, tail 3'0, tarsus 2'2 inch. 

 Female similar but rather smaller. In winter the head and neck are 

 brownish streaked with yellowish buff, the upper breast white streaked 

 with brown ; back and scapulars brownish ash, the latter with pale 

 yellowish shaft-stripes. 



Hob. Mongolia, up to the Russian frontier ; Manchuria ; 

 China ; Burma ; the Malay Peninsula ; Borneo ; the Andaman 

 Islands ; has once been obtained in Japan. 



In habits and nidification it is said not to differ from A. grayi. 



NYCTICORAX, Rafin., 1851. 



800. NIGHT-HERON. 

 NYCTICORAX GRISEUS. 



Nycticorax griseus (Linn.), Syst. Nat. i. p. 239 (1766) ; Dresser, vi. 

 p. 269, pi, 402 ; Gould, B. of Gt. Brit. iv. pi. 26 ; Blanf. F. Brit, 

 Ind. Birds, iv. p. 397 ; Saunders, p. 379 ; Lilford, vii. p. 32, pi. 11 ; 

 N. nycticorax (Linn.), Syst. Nat. i. p. 235 (1766) ; (Naum.), ix. 

 p. 139, Taf. 225 ; (Audubon), B. of Am. pi. 236 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. 

 Mus. xx vi. p. 146 ; Ridgvvay, p. 133 ; N. europceus, Steph. in Shaw's 

 Gen. Zool. xi. p. 609 (1819) ; Gould, B. of E. iv. p. 279. 



Htron bihoreau, French ; Goraz, Portug. ; Garza gris, Garza 

 de noche, Span. ; Nitticom, Ital. ; Nachtreiher, German ; Kwak, 

 Dutch ; Kwakwa, Russ. ; Kwak, Tar-bagla, Hindu. ; Ond-dze, 

 Chinese ; Seguro-yoi, Jap. 



ad. (Malta). Forehead, a streak over the eye, cheeks, chin, throat, 

 fore part of neck, breast, and abdomen white ; crown, nape, back, and 

 scapulars black glossed with bottle-green ; several very long, white nuchal 

 feathers ; sides of and hind neck, wings, rump, tail, and flanks ashy dove- 

 grey ; bill blackish ; lores and orbital space yellowish green ; legs dull 

 ochreous ; iris deep red. Culmen 3'0, wing 11*4, tail 4'7, tarsus 3'05 inch. 

 Female similar. In winter the long nuchal white feathers are wanting. 

 The young bird is brown above, the crown and nape striped, the back and 

 wing-coverts with triangular spots of buffy white ; under parts white 

 streaked with brown ; quills and tail ashy brown tipped with white. 



Hob. Central and southern Europe ; straying to the British 

 Islands, Denmark, and south Sweden, but has occurredas farnorth 

 as the Faeroes ; Africa generally ; Asia as far east generally 

 as Japan, north to Manchuria, south to the Moluccas ; America 

 except in the high north ; the Sandwich Islands. 



