DRY HERON. 
^ (Ardea Hoactli.) 
Ar. crista nigra, corpore nigro-virescente subtus alho, alls caudaque 
cinereis. 
Heron with a black crest ; the body black-green ; beneath 
white ; the wings and tail cinereous. 
Ardea Hoactli. Gmel. Syst. Nat. 1.630. — Lath. Ind. Orn.l, 
700 . 84. 
Ardea mexicana cristata. Briss, Orn. 5. 218. 11. 
Hoactli.- Rail. Syn. 178 . 8. — Bitf. Ois. 7 . 382. male. 
Hoacton. Will. 3C)1. female. 
Dry Heron. Lath. Gen. Syn, 5. 100.79* 
. Length two feet three inches : the beak black, 
with its sides yellow : the irides yellow : eyelids 
red : the head black, furnished with a crest of the 
same colour : fore-part of the former white : space 
between the beak and eye naked, and yellowish : 
the upper parts of the neck and the body are 
greenish black : the wing-coverts are greenish ash : 
the quills and tail cinereous : the under parts of 
the body are all white: the legs are yellow. The 
female has the upper parts of the body brown, 
varied with white : the under white, varied with 
brown : in other respects similar to the male. 
This species inhabits Mexico, frequenting marshy 
places, and breeding among reeds. 
