528 ARDEID^E. 



it has been confounded, being a distinct species, and con- 

 fined to that continent. 



M. Temminck says that the Buff-backed Heron visits the 

 mouths of the Danube, where an adult specimen has been 

 killed ; a young bird has been killed in the Crimea ; it is 

 said also to be found in Turkey and in Dalmatia. M. Ho- 

 henacker met with it in the Caucasian country. M. Tem- 

 minck says it is common in India ; in proof of which there 

 are many instances. Mr. Gould mentions that it is plenti- 

 ful in the Himalaya, and in Nepaul. Major Franklin 

 includes it in the birds found in the mountain chain of 

 Upper Hindoostan, and on the banks of the Ganges, where 

 it is called the Caboga Heron, the term Caboga being a cor- 

 ruption of the Indian term Gao-buga, the Cow or Cattle 

 Heron, in allusion to its being frequently seen amongst 

 cattle. Colonel Sykes also includes it in his Birds of the 

 Dukhun, where, he says, it is called Batty Bird by the 

 Europeans, that it attends oxen while grazing, and picks 

 insects from them. It is also Le Crabier de la cote de Goro- 

 mandel of Buffon, PI. Enl. 910, one of the very few figures 

 of this species. M. Temminck says it is found in Japan. 

 Dr. Horsfield includes it among his Birds of Java, under 

 the name of Ardea qffinis, and M. Temminck adds that it 

 is found at Sunda and its islands. 



Beyond what has been already stated, the habits, food, 

 and nidification, are unknown. 



M. Temminck's description of the adult bird is as follows : 

 The head, occiput, cheeks, neck, and breast, orange colour, 

 but the base of each feather is white ; the orange-coloured 

 ends formed of the loose unconnected filaments of the web ; 

 from the middle of the back another patch of feathers, the 

 filaments of which are sufficiently elongated to reach beyond 

 the ends of the closed wings ; these feathers, as also those 



