BUTOEIDES JAVANICA. 



(THE GREEN BITTERN.) 



Ardea javanica, Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 190 (1821). 



JButorides javanica (Horsf.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 281 (1849) ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. 



iii. p. 752 (1864) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 113 ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 



1872, p. 478; Hume, Str. Feath. 1874, p. 310, et 1879, p. 114 (List B. of Ind.); 



Salvador! Uccelli di Born. p. 351 (1874) ; Legge, Ibis, 1875, p. 404 ; Hume, Nests 



and Eggs, iii. p. 620 (1875) ; David & Oust. Ois. de la Chine, p. 442 (1877). 

 Javanese Heron. Burong Jukoyan, Borneo ; Puchong, Malay; Burong Puchong, Java (Horsf); 



Kaneha bagla, Hind. ; Kana bogla, Bengal. ; Boshi-koku, Tamil ; Sioeko-itam, lit. 



" Black Heron," Celebes (Meyer). 



Adult male and female. (Ceylon) Length 16-75 to 17-5 inches; wing 6-7 to 6-9 ; tail 2-2 to 2-4: tarsus 1-75 to 1*9 ; 

 middle toe 1-8, claw (straight) 0-4 ; bill to gape 2-9 to 3*1, at front 2-3 to 2-4 : pectinations of middle claw deep 

 and fine. — Male (Andamans). Length 16-75 ; wing 6-75 ; tail 2-5 ; tarsus 3-0 ; bill from gape 3-1, at front 2-45 : 

 weight about 6 oz. (Hume). — Males (Furreedpore). Wing 6-75 to 7'0 ; tarsus 1-83 to 2-0; bill from gape 3-35 to 

 3-43. — Female. Wing 6-75; bill from gape 3-58: weight 6-62 oz. (Oripps). — Adult (China). Wirig7"2; tarsus 

 1-9 ; bill at front 2-5.— Male (Borneo). Wing 7-0 ; bill at front 2-3.— Adult (Java). Wing 6-7 ; bill at front 2-4. 



Iris yellow or reddish yellow, with a brown outer circle ; bill, upper mandible and edge of lower black, lower 

 mandible greenish ; loral and orbital region greenish } r ellow ; legs and feet dull green anteriorly, posteriorly and 

 the soles yellow, claws brown. 



Top of the head, crest (2| in. long), and a facial patch, divided and bounded beneath by buff-white stripes, black, 

 glossed (except on the cheeks) with green ; back and sides of neck, passing below the cheek to the under mandible, 

 dusky bluish ashy, tinged with brownish and shaded at the shoulders with reddish ashy ; back cinereous, tinged 

 with metallic green and pervaded with reddish ashy on the rump ; scapulars, wing-coverts, and tail metallic green, 

 pervaded with slaty on the tail and pale grey (in some lights) on the elongated scapulars ; least wing-coverts 

 margined with rufous-brown ; the succeeding rows and the tertials with clearly defined edges of fulvous yellow ; 

 quills slate-colour, tipped, except the outer primaries, with white ; chin and centre of fore neck white, interrupted 

 at the middle of the throat and washed on the lower part with pale fulvous or reddish brownish, the feathers on the 

 upper part having brownish tips ; beneath slaty, washed with brownish fulvous on the belly and thigh-coverts ; 

 under tail-coverts with dark subtenninal patches ; axillaries and under wing slate-grey ; the edge beneath the 

 metacarpus buffy white. The powder-down tracts in this species are extensive. 



Very old birds are said by Mr. Hume to have no pale margins to any of the wing-feathers, which are rich metallic 

 green ; there is no white stripe down the centre of the throat, and the underparts have a stronger reddish tinge 

 than in ordinary adults. 



Young. Birds of the year have the soft parts much as in the adult. 



Head and crest ashy black, slightly glossed with green, and with white mesial stripes ; hind neck and its sides, with 

 the back, brownish ashy, the sides of the neck with broad whitish mesial stripes ; wings and tail dingy metallic 

 green, the scapulars and wing-coverts with triangular terminal white spots, the coverts with broader but not so 

 sharply defined edgings as in the adult ; scapulars not lanceolate ; quills dusky slaty, with terminal white spots 

 expanding into an edging on the tip of the outer web ; cheeks blackish, striated with whitish, the lower cheek- 

 stripe whiter than in the adult, and the sides of the gorge striated ; chin, centre of throat, and fore neck with 

 the breast and belly white, the middle of the fore neck with deep brown, and the lower part with lighter brown 

 lateral patches to the feathers ; sides of the chest dashed with light brown, the tips of the feathers buff-white. 



Birds not fully adult may be known by having the centre of the throat dashed with dark brown, the black cheek-patch 

 not clearly defined, the sides of the chin black, and the least wing-coverts more conspicuously edged than in the 

 normal stage. This is probably the phase of the second year. 



