NYCTICORAX GRISEUS. 



(THE COMMON NIGHT-HERON.) 



Ardea nycticorax, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 235 (1766, ex Briss.) ; Von Heuglin, Orn. N.Ost- 



Afr. ii. p. 1086 (1873). 

 Ardea grisea, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 239 (1766, ex Brisson). 

 Nycticorax europceus (Steph.), Shaw, Gen. Zool. xi. p. 609 (1819). 

 Nycticorax griseus (Linn.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 281 (1849) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. 



Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 114 ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 758 (1864) ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 



1872, p. 4T8 ; Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 27, et 1875, p. 403 ; Salvadori, Uccelli di Born. 



p. 356 (1874); Hume, Str. Feath. 1879, p. 114 (List B. of Ind.); Dresser, B. of Eur. 



pts. 75, 76 (1879). 

 Nyctiardea nycticorax (Linn.), apud David & Oust. Ois. de la Chine, p. 444 (1877) ; Hume, 



Nests and Eggs, iii. p. 624 (1875). 

 Le Bihoreau, Buff. PL Enl. 758. Wed; Hind. ; Koma dauk, Oyah, Beng. ; El Waq, Arabic ; 



Kwak, Dutch ; Gadri, Sindh ; Guwo, Java ; Sannary, Ceylonese Tamils. 

 BTe kana koka, Sinhalese. 



Adult male and female (Ceylon). Length 21-5 to 23'5 inches ; wing 11-5 to 11'7 ; tail 4-0 to 4-4 ; tarsus 3 - l to 3-3 ; 

 middle toe 2-5 to 2-6, its claw 0-6 ; hind toe 1-1 ; bill to gape 3 - 5 to 3-7, at front 2-6 to 2-9. 



Adults (Nepal). Length 20-0 to 24-0 inches ; wing 10-8 to 11-5 ; tail 4-1 to 4-5 ; tarsus 2-7 to 2-9 ; bare tibia 0-6 to 1-03 ; 

 bill to gape 3-6 to 3-9, at front 2-8 to 3-0 (Scully). — Female (Furreedpore). Wing 11-0 ; tarsus 2-75 ; bill to gape 

 3-S2 (Cripps).— Adults (China, Formosa, J). Wing 11-3; tarsus 3-0; bill to gape 3-6 to 3-7.—^.*^ (Egypt). 

 Length 21-0; wing 12-0 ; bill at front 2-8 ; tarsus 3-0 (Shelley).— Male. (Malta) Length 21-0 ; wing 11-7; tarsus 

 3-05 ; bill to gape 3-7. (New Brunswick) Wing 12-5 ; tail 4-7 ; tarsus 3-25 ; bill from gape 4-05 (Dresser). 



Iris variable, deep red, crimson, scarlet ; bill — upper mandible black, loral skin and gape bluish green, base of under 

 mandible greenish yellow, tip black ; legs and feet pale orange-yellow, in some yellow. 



Head, nape (on which the feathers are much elongated), upper back, and all but the lower or underlying scapulars 

 metallic black-green, pervaded with ashy in some lights ; forehead round the eye, chin, cheeks, throat, and all 

 beneath white, washed with buff on the underparts, most conspicuously on the lower neck-plumes, and darkening 

 on the sides and back of neck into delicate ashy greyish ; wings, lower back, and tail sombre bluish grey, darkest 

 on the tertials and centre tail-feathers ; edge of wing, margin of first primary, and a long crest of two or three 

 narrow feathers, closely overlying each other, white ; the crest-feathers 6 to 7^ inches in length. The under- 

 lying or broad scapular feathers in some are partly coloured as the uppermost, and in others wholly grey. The 

 back of the neck is almost white in some, and the under surface likewise lacks the buff tint. 



Young. The nestling has the eye pale sea-green ; lores and bill tinged with yellowish green ; legs bluish sea-green 

 above, sienna-yellow beneath ; colour of the down light purplish grey, tipped with white on the crown, and giving 

 place to white on the flanks and belly ; bare skin of the belly and also of the back sea-green. (Swinhoe.) 



In the first plumage the iris is orange, orbital and loral region greenish, the tips of both mandibles yellowish horny ; 

 legs and feet bright pea-green, soles yellow : wing 103 to 10-5. 



Upper surface light cinereous brown, darkening to glossy blackish brown on the head, and to a slightly less intense 

 hue on the interscapular region, while the wings are brownish slaty ; feathers of the head and upper back with 

 whitish narrow mesial lines, the hind neck edged buff, and with fulvous white mesial centres ; the scapulars and 

 median wing-coverts with broad angular white terminal spots, and narrow mesial lines on the latter, the greater 

 wing-coverts, winglet, and secondaries with deep white tips, and the primaries with whitish-grey tips ; the least 

 coverts are narrowly edged with buff ; the face and cheeks are striated with dark brown on a white ground ; chin 

 and throat, centre of fore neck, breast, and lower parts buff-white, the feathers on the middle of the fore neck 



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