1158 ARDETTA SINENSIS. 



Nidification. — It is probable that this little Bittern breeds about the same time in Ceylon that it does in 

 India. There I find that Mr. Doig found its nests in Sindh in May and August, and Mr. Oates in Pegu in 

 the same month. I am not aware that the nest has ever been found in Ceylon. It builds in the centre of a 

 plump of bulrushes or reeds, or even in a tussock of grass, according to Mr. Doig. The eggs vary from three 

 to five in number, and, according to the last-named gentleman, are " nearly spherical in shape," and when 

 first blown of a delicate sea-green, fading after a time almost to white. They vary from 115 to 1'25 inch in 

 length, and from 09 to 095 in breadth. Mr. Oates describes his eggs as without gloss and a pale green 

 colour, four specimens varying in length from T26 to 131 inch, and in breadth from 093 to 097. Captain 

 Butler describes two found at Milana as long and cylindrical, white, faintly tinted with skim-milk blue. 



Subgenus ARDEIRALLA*. 

 As in Ardetta, but with the tibia not feathered to the knee. 



\ s the very marked difference in the feathering of the tibia in the last and two following species precludes the 

 possibility of my keeping all these in the same genus, I have retained Ardetta for the Eastern Little Bittern, as it is 



similar in all respects to A. minuta, the type of the genus Ardetta. 



