EUROPEAN NIGHTHERON. 
611 
with brown : the wing-coverts and quills are grey- 
brown, with large ovate yellowish white spots at 
the tip of each feather: the under parts of the 
body are shaded with brown : the upper edge of 
the beak is brown, the rest is of a yellowish green : 
the irides are brown : the legs are olive-brown. 
At the age of two years the colours of the head 
and the back are tinged with dusky, and the lon- 
gitudinal spots on the neck become fewer in 
number : the spots at the tips of the wing-coverts 
are smaller : the proper cinereous hue makes its 
appearance on the other parts of the body, and the 
under parts become more, white : the beak is 
dusky brown : the irides are red-brown, and the 
legs are tinged with green. 
The Nightheron frequents the sea shores, rivers, 
and inland marshes, feeding upon fishes, worms, 
insects, and frogs. It is very abundant in most 
of the southern countries of both continents, but 
towards the northern parts is extremely rare : very 
few specimens have ever been killed in this country, 
the first on record having been shot near London, 
during the month of May 1782 ; since that period, 
however, five or six more have been shot, and one 
so lately as 1816, which is now in the British 
Museum j this one occurred in the vicinity of 
London. 
The female builds her nest in trees or on the 
ground ; she lays three or four greenish blue eggs. 
During the day this species remains concealed, and 
does not roam about until the dusk of the evening, 
