60 ALTRICIxVL GRALLATORES — HERODIONES. 



loud guttural croak always deterring tliem from coining too near. He was not afraid 

 of tlie family ; and though he did not like to be handled, would never run away 

 to avoid it, but would come at call, even from a distance, evincing disappointment 

 when no food was given him. The following illustrates his tenacity to first impres- 

 sions. He was once caught wandering off to a neighboring spring for frogs, and 

 driven back to the barnyard. In his jiatli was a cart — an obstacle which it was 

 necessary to go round — while beyond it was a pile of rubbish, over which he half 

 flew. This was repeated three or four times. Afterward, the cart and tlie rubbish 

 having been removed, the bird, when driven home from his wanderings, persisted in 

 making a circuit around the spot where the cart had formerly stood, and in giving a 

 flying leap over the place where once the pile had previously made this necessary. 

 This amusing performance he would always go through with, and he was occasionally 

 made to repeat it for the entertainment of visitors. Once in a while he would stray 

 off into Stony Brook, at a point where it flowed past several houses, and would fish 

 for himself. On one occasion, his hoarse gurgling cries created an alarm in the 

 settlement, and the river was searched at midnight for the supposed drowning indi- 

 vidual ; and our pet was in some danger of its own life before the real cause of the 

 alarm had been ascertained. It readily endured the cold of one winter ; but an 

 unusually severe night in the second winter killed the bird before it had assumed 

 its mature plumage. 



Three eggs of this species, taken by Mr. Harold Herrick in a heronry at Chettam, 

 N. J., are almost exactly oval in shape, equally tajiering at either end, and uni- 

 formly washed with a bright, light greenish blue — a light wash of Prussian blue 

 with green shadings. These three eggs measure, respectively, 2.32 by 1.53 inches ; 

 2.10 by 1.48 inches ; and 2.00 inches by 1.44, — showing a remarkable variation in 

 size. These were taken May 30, 1873. 



Genus NYCTHERODIUS, Rekhexbach. 



Nydherodms, Eeichenb. Haiidb. Oni. (Natiul. Syst. Vcig. in ^^ysteIna Avium), 1851, ji. xvi. (type, 



Ardca violacea, LlNN. ). 

 Nijcticorax, BoiE (part), Isis, 1826, 979 (type, Ardai violacea, Linn.). 



Gen. Char. Medium-sized Herons, of short, tbiek build ; the bill extremely thick and stout, 

 with both outlines strongly eouves ; the legs long and slender ; the dorsal plumes much elongated 

 and very narrow, reaching beyond the tail ; the occiput (in adult) with several extremely long, 

 linear white feathers. Habits nocturnal. 



Bill short and very stout, the culnien curved regularly from the base, the gonys decidedly con- 

 vex and very much ascending ; ^ maxillary tomiuni almost perfectly straight throughout, but 

 appreciably concave anteriorly, with a barely perceptible convexity toward the base ; mandibular 

 tomium nearly straight, but perceptibly concave anteriorly.- Mental apex less than half way from 

 centre of eye to end of bill, and about even with anterior end of nostril ; apex of malar region a 

 little posterior to the frontal a]iex. Tarsi long and slender, exceeding; tlie middle toe by more than 



1 The lower outline of the bill is, in fact, more decidedly convex than the upper. 



2 We find considerable vaiiation among individuals in respect to these outlines: tlius, a specimen ($ 

 adult, No. 2759, Mus. R.R.) from lUinois has the mandibular tomium e.xactly straight to near the end, 

 where it gradually ascends to the tiji, thereby producing a very slight subtei-minal concavity ; in No. 2758, 

 another adult 9 h'om the same locality, it is decidedly convex in the middle portion ; while in an adult 

 $, from Mazatlan (No. 58811), it is decidedly concave at the same place, — so much so, in fact, that a 

 space is left between it and the upper tomium, on each side, when the bill is closed tight ! These dis- 

 crepancies, however, do not aflect the general form of the bill, which is eminiMitly charactei'istic. 



