AKDEIRALLA FLAVICOLLIS. 



(THE BLACK BITTERN.) 



Ardeaflavicollis, Lath. Ind. Orn. ii. p. 701 (1790) ; Jerd. 111. Ind. Orn. pi. 16 (1847). 

 Ardettaflamcollis (Lath.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 282 (1849) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. 



Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 113 ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 753 (1864) ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 



1872, p. 478; Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 30, et 1875, p. 404; David & Oust. Ois. de la 



Chine, p. 446 (1877); Hume, Str. Feath. 1878 (B. of Tenass.), p. 483, et 1879, p. 114 



(List B. of Ind.) ; Doig, t. c. p. 376. 

 Ardeiralla flavicollis (Lath.), Salvadori, Ucc. di Born. p. 353 (1874). 

 Yellow-necked Bittern of some ; Blongios noir, French. Kola bagla, Hind. ; Tototan, Java 



(Horsf.). Karu Nary, Ceylonese Tamils. 

 Karawal Jeoka, Kalu koka, Sinhalese. 



Adult male and female (Ceylon). Length 23-5 to 25-75 inches ; wing 7-8 to 8-0 ; tail 2-7 ; tarsus 2-6 to 2-8, middle 

 toe and claw 2-6 to 2-8 ; bill to gape 3-7 to 4-1, at front 3-25 ; hind toe 1-23 ; claw finely pectinated. 



Males (Tenasserim). Length 23-0 to 24-5 inches ; wing 842 to 8-5, expanse 30-0 to 31 -2 ; bill from gape 4-0 to 4-25 : 

 weight 8-0 to 9-0 oz. {Davison). — Female (Furreedpore). Wing 8-0 inches ; bill from gape 3-8 : weight 11-87 oz. 

 (Cripps). 



Iris in some golden, but in most examples I have seen red of various shades, with a fine inner brilliant golden ring, 

 a dark brownish spot being sometimes present across the red portion ; bill and orbital skin livid or red-brown, 

 darkening into blackish towards the tip of the upper mandible, the base of the lower mandible paler (especially 

 in the female) and the tip light horny ; legs and feet dark livid brown, soles yellowish. 



Iris — Female (Furreedpore) "light purplish brown" (Cripps); male (Tenasserim) "pale brown," male and female 

 " crimson " (Davison). These data show the variation in the colour of the iris ; the brown tint is probably indi- 

 cative of immaturity. 



Male (Ceylon). Top and sides of head, nape, hind neck, back, wings, and tail black, with an ashy tinge and a slightly 

 greenish lustre on the scapulars and tertials ; quills cinereous black ; throat and a small spot on the face white : 

 cheeks, ear-coverts, and a stripe down the chin and throat, spreading out over the fore neck, russet-brown, the 

 terminal portion of the feathers black, and (on the fore neck) the outer half of one web white, imparting a 

 striped appearance to the sides of the neck ; from the white throat a broad golden-yellow stripe passes down each 

 side, dividing the brown of the fore neck from the black of the hinder part, and becoming decomposed into 

 stripes at the lower parts ; lower neck-plumes cinereous blackish, margined with whitish and pale reddish brown ; 

 breast cinereous black, the terminal and outer parts of the lower breast- and abdominal feathers whitish ; thighs 

 concolorous with the flanks, edged with fulvous yellow ; edge of carpal joint white ; axillaries and under wing 

 blackish slaty. In old birds the yellow stripe is very broad. 



Female. Upper surface brown ; the head and hind neck cinereous blackish ; cheeks pale red-brown ; the fore neck 

 paler, the black terminal portions fading out on the lower part, which is broadly edged with white ; there is more 

 white about the throat, and the yellow stripes are broader than in the male ; lower breast and abdomen whiter ; 

 thighs fulvescent whitish on the inner side. 



Young. Birds of the year of both sexes have the upper parts tipped with fulvous, especially conspicuous on the back 

 and wing-coverts, and scarcely perceptible on the crown — males being black, like adults, without the lustre ; 

 females chocolate-brown, like the adults, with the pale tippings browner ; at the latter end of the first year the 

 pale edges of the back-feathers have almost disappeared, from the result of abrasion. Birds in their first year are 

 full-sized. 



06s. Chinese examples in the Swinhoe collection in Mr. Seebohm's possession correspond with Ceylonese. An adult 



