590 
LITTLE HERON. 
Rayed Bittern, hath, Gen. Syn. 5. 6l. 21. young. 
Little Bittern. Penn. Brit. Zool. App. p. 663. pi. 8. — Penn,- 
Arct. Zool. 2. 359 . — Lath. Gen. Spn, 5. 65. 27- — Lath. Syn. 
Sup.p. 235. — Lath. Syn. Sup. II. 30\. 8. — Levoin. Brit. Birds. 
4. pi. 147 . — Wale. Syn. 2. pi. 128. — Don. Brit. Birds. 3. pi. 
54 . — Pidt. Cat. Dors. p. 14. — Betmck. Brit. Birds. 2. p. 51. 
Mont, Orn. Diet. ]. — Mont. Orn. Diet. Sup. 
Size about that of a Thrush: length fifteen 
inches : the top of the head, the occiput, the back, 
the scapulars, the secondary quills, and the tail, of 
a fine black, glossed with greenish : the sides of 
the head, the neck, the wing-coverts, and the 
whole of the under parts of the body, yellowish 
red : the quills are greyish black : the beak is 
yellow, with the tip brown : the space round the 
eyes and the irides are yellow : the legs are yel- 
lowish green. The young of the first year have 
the beak brown and the legs green : the top of 
the head is brown : the fore-part of the neck is 
whitish, with several longitudinal spots : the sides 
of the head, the nape, the breast, the back, and 
the wing-coverts, are different shades of red, 
sprinkled with longitudinal brown spots : the quills 
and the tail-feathers are deep brown. After the 
second moult the longitudinal spots begin to dis^ 
appear: the feathers of the shoulder are edged 
with rufous : the quills and the tail-feathers incline 
to black. 
This species inhabits various parts of Europe, 
but nowhere in great plenty, except in Switzer- 
land, and towards the south : in England it is 
extremely rare, very few instances being on record 
