84 BIRDS OF TIERRA DEL FUEGO 



forest birds to the soutli of Useless Bay, I frequently heard it, 

 but could never trace it to the bird until my journey to Nose Peak. 

 Another of its calls is " Ha-hu : hu-liu^' very startling, usually 

 uttered as it emerges from the undergrowth at one's feet. A 

 third is "Tz'-^z.- ?/z^m," twice uttered, resembling the song of 

 the African Jacana and hardly inferior in power. It has 

 also an abrupt note of alarm or protest. It is a remarkable 

 bird in every way. Insects are its food. 



HEEODIONES 



Family ARDEIDiE 



NYCTICORAX CYANOCEPHALUS (Molina) 



Ardea Cyanocephala, Molina, Sagglo Storia Naturale, Chili, p. 344, 



1782. 

 NyCtiCOraX americannS (nee Bonaparte), Gould and JDarwin, Voy. 



" Beagle," Birds, p. 128, 1841. 

 Nycticorax CyanOCeplialUS, Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., XX vi, 



p. 156, 1898. 



Habitat. — CHili, Patagonia, and Tierra del Fuego. 



c^, Rio McClelland Settlement, 2nd Dec, 1904. 



Iris — apricot ; bill — dark grey, yellow points ; legs and feet — yellowish 

 drab, yellow points. 



I find it impossible to comprehend this Night Heron in its 

 relation to the work of other expeditions, between authorities 

 who variously recognize Molina or ignore him and prefer 

 Lichtenstein, and authorities who determine two species or one 

 over a range which appears to overlap. 



Certainly this bird has come to merit the name " obscurus " 

 in another sense than originally contemplated by Lichtenstein ! 



My example is not as dark as the majority of the series in 



