AUDEID.E — Till-: HERONS — NYCTICOUAX. 



67 



With five adult examples for comparison, we Lave been eciually unsuccessful in discovering 

 iliUVTcnecs liutween European liirds of tliis species and those from Anierifii, beyond the slightly 

 siimllcr size of the former, tliere l)eing no dilference whatever, that we can see, in plumage. We 

 liMvu not, however, seen amon^' European specimens those dark-colored examples which occur now 

 :iiid then in America. 



A nearly adult specimen from the Sandwich Islands (N'o. 41<Jol ; Wainjea Kaui; V. Knuuskn), 

 is very similar in coloi's to No. 4!)(i4(> (typicid obscitruK) from Chili; it is smaller, however, and 

 li;^'htcr-i()lored beneath ; it is also more adult, and, besides jiossessing the occipital plume.-i, hiw 

 iIk' forehead 'Hstiiictly white. A joung bird from the same locality (No. 41!>u2) agrees strictly 

 with American specimens of the same age. 



A young specimen from Lake Titicaca (24278, M. C. Z.) difl'ers from North American 

 ixamplcs in darker cohirs. 



Tile following table of measurements, giving the extremes in each series, may serve to show 

 ilif dilference in size between specimens of this species from various countries, as indicated by the 

 scries Ijefoiv Us : — 



The Night Horon — "Qiiu-binl," or "QuAk," as this Heron is called in different 

 parts of the country — is distrihutcd over the entire continent, from the Arctic Circle, 

 (in the extreme northwest, to the opjiosite extrenn' of South Anu'rica. And it' we 

 regard our American bird as clearly ;i race of, and hardly varying from, the European 

 bird, it iiHist claim to 1h' cosmopolitan in the largt'st sense, since it is known to occur 

 ill nearly all parts of the glolie. It is resident througliout Central America, and 

 lirecds in all portions where the situation is favorable. It was found breeding at 

 r>(lize and at Onioa by Mr. Leyland. j\Ir. (J. C. Taylor mentions its ju'esence at 

 {•'onseca l>ay. in Honduras. It was found at I'arana, anuing the reeds of the lagoons, 

 iiiul on the islands of the river, by Dr. l»nrnu'ister ; and Captain C. C. Abbott, in his 

 paper on tlu' Uirds of the Falkland Islands (" Ibis," 1861), states that when he was in 

 Hope I'lace. in I)ccend)er. IiS.V.>, be visited one of the breeding-places of this Heron. 

 The places selected for laying were the tufts of grass near a freshwater pond, the 

 whole of one sidi' of which was covered with them. In some of the nests, which 

 were composed of a few coarse sticks, were young birds half grown; in others eggs, 

 tliree in nundier, sonu' fre^.h, others with largely di'vcloped end)ryos. There could 

 not have been less than a hundrt'd pairs on the spot, and they were so tanu' and 

 unsusi>icious that they had evidently lu'vcr been disturbed. 



In Kurojie the Night Heron has apparently less of a northern range than the 

 .Vmerii'un form. It is rare in England, where less than a dozen stragglers are 

 known to have been taken since 1781', when the first recorded specimen was pro- 

 cured; and it is still more rare in Ireland and in Scotland. It is found, more or less 

 abumhmtly. in the warnu-r parts of Kuroj)!', Asia, and in Africa throughout the entire 

 region, even as far as the Cape of (food Hope. It is said to inhabit Nepal, as also 

 the country about Cahaitta, and to be found in China and Japan. 



The Night Heron is found abundantly, and breeds, in nu)st of the West India 

 Islands, esi)ecially in Cuba, .Jamaica, and Trinidad. In the latter it is very abundant 



VOL. I. — 8 



