552 ARDEHLE. 



Erzeroom, and M. Menetries found it near the Caspian 

 Sea. It has also been brought by different naturalists from 

 the Cape of Good Hope. It inhabits Nepal, and the coun- 

 try about Calcutta, and is found in China, and Japan. 



The adult Night Heron has the beak nearly black above 

 and at the point ; the base of the lower mandible and the 

 naked skin around the eyes, green ; the irides crimson : 

 the top of the head and the back of the neck black ; the 

 elongated occipital plumes white, and generally three in 

 number, but in very old birds it is said that the number is 

 greater ; scapulars, inter-scapulars, and back, nearly black, 

 glossed with green ; wings, wing-coverts, all the quill-fea- 

 thers, secondaries, tertials, and tail-feathers, ash grey ; 

 throat and neck almost white, passing into dull greyish 

 white on the sides ; breast, belly, thighs, flanks, and under 

 tail-coverts, nearly pure white ; legs and toes yellowish 

 green ; the claws black. 



Adult males and females differ but little in colour. The 

 whole length, from the point of the beak to the end of the 

 tail, about twenty-three inches : from the carpal joint to 

 the end of the wing twelve inches ; the first and fourth 

 quill-feathers equal in length, and a little shorter than the 

 third feather ; the second feather the longest in the wing. 



The young Night Heron has the upper mandible of the 

 beak of a dark brown, the edge on each side lighter in 

 colour, and, like the under mandible and the naked skin 

 around the eye, of a pale greenish brown; the irides 

 brown ; no elongated occipital plumes ; the top of the 

 head, back of the neck, inter-scapulars, shoulders, wing, 

 and wing-coverts, clove brown, the centre of each feather 

 being pale wood-brown, extending to the tip, but bounded 

 on the sides with darker brown ; all the primaries, secon- 

 daries, and tertials, clove brown, tipped with pale wood- 



