54 ARDEID^ 



The nest has often been described ; it is figured by Holub, while 

 Harris reproduces in his Sketches a photograph of one taken by 

 him. It is a huge structure composed of sticks and twigs, often 

 with reeds and grass all cemented together with mud ; sometimes it 

 is placed on the ground, usually on the side of a krantz or in some 

 very inaccessible spot, sometimes in a tree, generally low down, 

 ' but always near water ; the entrance is on the most inaccessible 

 side and leads by a narrow passage into a small rounded central 

 chamber plastered with mud ; the outside is often ornamented with 

 stones, old tins, bones, and other objects. Haagner measured one 

 which was a yard and a half in diameter across the top and a yard 

 in height ; it was more or less flat on the top and pointed below 

 and somewhat dome shaped, and so strongly constructed that he 

 was able to stand upon the top without causing any damage. 



The usual number of eggs is four, laid generally in October, but 

 sometimes earlier ; Captain Eeid obtained his on May 30 ; there is 

 a clutch of four in the South African Museum taken by Major 

 Sparrow, at Waschbank, in Natal, on October 9 ; they are white 

 and slightly chalky, without any gloss but quite smooth ; they 

 measure about 1-80 x 1'40. 



Family III. ARDEID^. 



This family is a large one, containing the Herons, Egrets, 

 Bitterns, and their allies. The bill is slender and straight, with the 

 usual groove, and is generally notched at the tip ; there are eleven 

 primaries, and the number of the rectrices varies from eight to 

 twelve ; the hind toe is on a level with the others ; between the 

 outer and middle toes there is a broad basal web, which is nearly 

 obsolete between the other two ; the claw of the middle toe is 

 pectinated ; the eggs are generally blue ; the young when hatched 

 are covered with hairy down, and are fed for some time Ijy the 

 parents. 



Anatomical characters are as follows : — From eighteen to twenty 

 cervical vertebra ; skull holorhinal ; angle of the mandible not 

 produced beyond the articulation of the quadrate ; syrinx with 

 intrinsic muscles ; two fused carotids ; femorocaudal, semitendinosus 

 and accessory semitendinosus muscles present, the first named 

 occasionally wanting; four to six powder-down patches. The key 

 of the genera will be found on p. 29. 



