Birds of Celebes: Ai-deidae. 



849 



spots or (on scapulars and wing-coverts) vermiculate bars of white; some of the inner 

 primary coverts chestnut with broad white tips and a subterminal bLack portion; 

 remiges blackish slaty, broadly tipped with white; tail-feathers blackish slaty, the 

 lateral ones with imperfect subterminal white narrow bars; under parts buff-white, 

 mottled and spotted with blackish brown, as in the adult fjuv. Esang, Talaut, 

 29. Oct. 94: Nat. Coll. — 13856). 

 Transition. A third example is changing from young to adult plumage: general plumage 

 as in the adult, but numerous worn feathers of immaturity (blackish with white 

 sagittate spots or tips) on the sides of the neck, nape, and sides of head; others 

 among the wing-coverts and inner remiges (Esang, 24. Oct. 94: Nat. Coll. — C 13855). 



Measurements. 



Wing 



TaU 



Tarsus 



Mid. toe 

 and claw 



235 

 239 

 229 



256 

 254 

 260 

 232 



83 



82 



95 

 92 



60 

 65 

 61 



67 

 63 



58 



58 



48 

 53 

 51 



56 

 53 



Exposed 

 culmen 



48 

 51 

 49 



44 



ca.44 



44 



46 



a. (C 13854) ad., Talaut (Nat. Coll.) . . . 



h. (C 13855) vix ad., Talaut (Nat. Coll.) . . 



c. (0 13856) juv., Talaut (Nat. Coll.) . . . 



For comparison: G. melanolopkus 



d. (0 12415) imm., Java (v. Schierbrand) . 



e. (C 12414) juv., Java (v. Schierbrand). . 



f. Nicobar Is. cT ad.? (Hume 3) . . . . 



g. Nicobar Is. Q (Hume 3) 



Nest and eggs. "The nest was placed among the tangled masses of undergrowth a few feet 



from the ground, and contained two white eggs, slightly greenish, on 'IT-^ June. A^is 



1.9, diam. 1.45" = 48 X 37 mm (Palawan: Whitehead 19). 

 Distribution. Philippines — Luzon (Kutter d 1), Cebu and Masbate (Bourns & "Wore. 



bl2), Guimaras and Mindanao (Steere b 11), Palawan (Whitehead b 6, b 9, Plat. 



b 7); North Borneo fWhitehd. b 10); Talaut Islands — Karkellang (Nat. Coll. b 14); 



? North Celebes — Gorontalo (Rosenberg a 2). 



The genus Gorsachius is a form about which it is almost impossible at present 

 to obtain exact knowledge. It consists probably of three or more species or 

 local races found from India and Japan as far as Pelew Islands, Halmahera 

 and Java. Systematically Gorsachius seems to have affinities with the Night 

 Herons, Nycticorax, but differs by its toes being much shorter than the tarsus, 

 by the more expansive skin on the soles of its feet, by the longer and coarser 

 pectinations of the claw of the middle toe, by its differently shaped bill (the 

 nasal groove being broader and deeper); it lacks the long, narrow, occipital 

 plumes of Nycticorax, while the broad white tips to the remiges of Gorsachius 

 form a very unusual character in a Heron, except in young birds. It agrees 

 with Nycticorax in having the scales on the front of the tarsus for the most 

 part reticulate or irregular, in having 12 tail-feathers as Seebohm first re- 

 marked (B. Japan, 225), and by its short neck. The plumage of the young is 

 more Bittern-like than that of Nycticorax, and the adult also resembles the 

 Bitterns in the irregular character of the markings on its wings and under sur- 

 face, but the true Botaurus has 10 tail-feathers and very long toes. The New 

 Guinea Bittern, Zonerodius, which has 12 tail-feathers, evidently stands nearer to 

 it than Botaurus. 



Moyer a. Wiftleswovth, Birds of Celebes (Dec. 10th, 1897). 



107 



