86 AEDEID^ ARDBTTA 



Distribution. — Africa from Senegal and the White Nile south- 

 wards. This is a very scarce bird in South Africa, and, so far as I 

 am aware, has only been twice procured — in April, 1870, on the 

 Kleimont Eiver, in the Bathurst division of Cape Colony, by Messrs. 

 B. Atherstone and H. Barber, and on the Hex Eiver in the Eusten- 

 burg district of the Transvaal by Mr. Lucas. The latter specimen 

 is now in the British Museum.* 



Mr. Lucas states that he found the nest of this bird " composed 

 of rushes, on water '' and that it contained five eggs tinged with 

 pale green and measuring about 1-8 X 1'45. 



Genus IX. ARDETTA. 



Type. 



Rriettsi, Gmif, List Gen. B. App. -p. 13 {18¥2) A. minuta. 



Bill long and slender, the culmen usually slightly exceeding the 

 tarsus and the middle toe and claw, which are themselves about 

 equal ; mandibles serrated towards their tips ; wings short and 

 round, the second and third pri maries usually the longest ; tail 

 very short, slightly rounded, of ten feathers only ; tibio-tarsus 

 feathered almost to the heel ; tarsus with transverse scutes in front ; 

 a slight crest on the nape, and the feathers of the upper breast 

 somewhat lengthened, concealing the lower breast, but no regular 

 ornamental or decomposed train of feathers. 



This is a large genus containing some seventeen species of small 

 Bittern-like birds and is distributed all over the world. Four 

 African species are recognised by Eeichenow, three of which occur 



within our limits. 



Key of the Species. 



A. Wing-ooverts buff contrasting with the black or 



brown mottled back and scapulars. 



a. Neck frill chestnut A. payesi, -p- 8^- 



b. Neck frill ochraceous or ashy fulvous A. 7ninuta, p. 88. 



B. Whole of the upper surface, including the wing- 



ooverts and neck, ashy black A. siiirini, p. 89. 



600. Ardetta payesi. Bed-necked Little Bittern. 



Ardea payesi, Hartl., Journ. Ornitlt. 1858, p. 42. 



Ardetta nimuta {nee Linn.) Guiiieij, Ibis, 1859, p. 249, 1860, p. 205, 

 1868, p. 469, 1878, p. 300 ; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 309 (1867) ; Gurney, in 

 Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 292 (1872) ; Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 211. 



* There were three examples in the Durban Museum from the neighbourhood 

 of that place : one of these, received in exchange, is now in the South African 

 Museum. 



