226 HERODIONES. 



The sole claim of the Chinese Squacco Heron to be regarded as a 

 Japanese bird rests upon a single immature example procured by 

 Captain Blakiston at Hakodadi on the 12th of October, 1879, and 

 presented by him to the museum of the Smithsonian Institution in 

 "Washington (Seebohm, Ibis, 1884, p. 35). 



The Chinese Squacco Heron is a resident in South China and 

 Cochin China. It is said to be a summer visitor to Central China 

 (David and Oustalet, Ois. Chine, p. 443). It has once occurred in 

 Manchuria (Taczanowski, Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 1886, p. 809), 

 and is also recorded from Independent Burma, Tenasserim, and the 

 Malay Peninsula. 



It is possible that the Crabier de Malac (D'Ajibenton, Planches 

 Enluminees, plate 911) may be intended to represent an immature 

 example of this species, in which case the names Cancroma leucoptera 

 (Boddaert, Table PI. Enl. p. 54) and Ardea malaccensis (Gmelin, 

 Syst. Nat. i. p. 643) must be added to its synonymy. The name of 

 Buphus bacchus, dating from 1857 (Bonaparte, Consp. Generum 

 Avium, ii. p. 127), belongs, without doubt, to it. 



Genus Botaurus. — The Bitterns differ from the Herons (^Arded) 

 and from the Night-Herons (Nycticorase) in having only ten instead 

 of twelve tail-feathers, and in having the inner toe longer than the 

 outer. They further differ from Nydicoraoo and resemble Ardea in 

 having the whole of the front of the tarsus covered with wide trans- 

 verse plates. They further differ from Ardea and resemble Nycti- 

 corax in having the tibia feathered almost to the joint. 



212. BOTAURUS STELLARIS. 



(BITTERN.) 



Ardea stellaris, Linneus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 239 (1766). 



The Common Bittern is a large bird (wing from carpal joint more 

 than 12 inches) and it has barred primaries. 



Figures : Dresser, Birds of Europe, vi. pi. 403. 



The Bittern is found in all the Japanese Islands, and is probably a 

 summer visitor to Yezzo, and a resident in the islands further south. 

 There is an example in the Swinhoe collection from Hakodadi 



