SQUACCO HERON. 
575 
the industry of Scopoli that we are indebted for 
extricating us from this labyrinth. The bird 
now under consideration possesses the following 
plumage after the age of three years : the forehead 
and top of the head have the feathers slightly 
elongated, and yellowish, marked with longitudinal 
black rays : the occiput is ornamented with eight 
or ten narrow long feathers, which are slightly 
edged with black : the throat is black : the neck, 
top of the back, and scapulars, a bright red ; the 
feathers of the back long, slender, and of a bright 
chesnut : the whole of the rest of the plumage is 
of a pure white : the beak is fine caerulean blue at 
its base, and black at the tip : the naked space 
round the eyes is greyish green : the irides are 
yellow : the legs yellow, shaded with green : the 
naked space above the knee very small : length 
from sixteen to eighteen inches. The young have 
not the long occipital feathers : the whole of the 
head, the neck, and the wing-coverts, are red- 
brown, with deeper longitudinal spots : the throat, 
the rump, and the tail, are pure white : the fea- 
thers of the wdngs are white on their inner webs, 
and greyish on their outer and towards their tips : 
the top of the back and the scapulars are varied 
with different shades of brown : the upper man- 
dible of the beak is brown and greenish ; the under 
green-yellow : the naked skin round the eyes is 
green : the irides are bright yellow, and the legs 
are grey-green. 
This bird iS extremely abundant in Asia and 
Africa, frequenting the bays of the Caspian Sea, 
