Birds of Celebes: Ardeidae. 



857 



"Swekko burik ketjil" (a name of B. javanica and A. siiiensis), Minahassa, Nat. Coll. 



Figures and descriptions. Schrenck a I; Swinlioe b I] David and Oustalet b V; 

 Taczanowski b 11; M. & Wg. e 1. 



Adult male. Above glossy deep bay, black on forehead and middle of crown, passing into 

 chestnut on sides of head, below eye, ear-coverts, sides of and hind neck, and most 

 of the lesser wing-coverts; middle and greater wing-coverts cinnamon; remiges 

 and primary coverts dusky slate, the latter and some of the secondaries wliitish 

 at the tip, innermost quills bay, like back; tail-feathers blackish; submalar region 

 and under surface cinnamon-buff, nearly white on under tail-coverts and axillaries, 

 a plait-stripe of red-brown down middle of throat; lateral pectoral plumes black, 

 broadly edged with tawny- ohve or dark cinnamon fij', Tomohon, 7. X. 94: 

 P. &r. Sarasin). 



"Bill blackish brown on culmen, yellowish brown on the rest, darker on sides 

 of upper mandible near tomia, light on sides of lower and on gouys. Cere and bare 

 skins round eye pui-plish flesh-colour, tinged with green. Iris straw-yellow. Legs and 

 toes grass-green" (Swinhoe 2). 



Female and young male. Differ from the adult male in having the back and scapulars 

 black varied with chestnut and covered with white spots of the size of a grain of rice; 

 wing-coverts chestnut, broadly tipped and laterally spotted with cinnamon (where not 

 exposed, with white); under-parts Ught rufous-buff, broadly streaked with chestnut 

 and blackish; axillaries white, with slaty centres ($, type of A. riedeli, Kema, 

 12. Oct. 93: P. & F. Sarasin; Main, 10. Feb. 94: Nat. Coll. — 13256). "Iris gold- 

 yellow; feet and legs green, feet below yellow; bill above black, at the sides and 

 below greenish yellow" (P. & F. S.). The female is sometimes found in adult male 

 dress, probably when old (Swinhoe 2). A nearly adult male (apparently moulting) 

 has some white spotted feathers among the scapulars and inner secondaries, and the 

 thi-oat is streaked with dark brown; axillaries grey, edged with white; in other 

 respects it is very hke the adult male described [c^, Tomohon, 16. Nov. 94: P. &F. S.). 



Mid. 



Measurements. j Wing TaU Tarsus! ^^^ 



claw 



149 

 144 



a. (Sarasin Coll.) cf ad., Tomohon, 7. X. 94 . . 



b. (Sarasin Coll.) cf vix ad., Tomohon, 16. XI. 94 



c. (Sarasin Coll.) 2, Kema, 12. X. 93 142 



140 

 142 



40 

 44 

 39 

 40 

 41 



51 



47 

 47 

 47 

 47 



55 

 53 

 53 

 51 



51 



Ex- 

 posed 

 culm. 



53 

 49 

 45 

 47 



47 



Eggs. 



d. (0 13256) [2?], Main, 10. H. 94 (Nat. Coll. 



e. (0 12429) [Q?], Java (v. Schierbrand). 

 "Short and nearly elliptical, pure white with a shght gloss on the surface; shell 



translucent wliite: size of a sitting from the banks of the river Argoun in Dauria: 

 33x27; 33X27; 33.5x27.3 mm" (Taczanowski b 11). Three seem to be the full 

 complement of eggs (Swinhoe 1). 

 Distribution. S. E. Siberia (Schrenck a I, Dybowski, etc. b 11]\ Japan (Blakiston & 

 Pryer 4, d 2); China (Swinhoe 1, 2, Styan b 10, De La Touche 12); Cochm 

 China (fide Sharpe h 12); N. Borneo (Treacher 6, b 9); N. Celebes: Minahassa 

 (P.&F. Sarasin, Nat. Coll.); Java (v. Schierbrand). 



This Little Bittern was first discovered by v. Schrenck in Amurland, where 

 he obtained a young example which he identified with A. cinnamomea. Much 

 of what is known about the bird is from the pen of Swinhoe, who first detected 

 it as new to science and described the remarkable differences of coloration m 



Meyer k Wigleswovth. Birds of Celebes (Dec. 11">, 1SII7). 



108 



