Jan., 1909. Birds of Illinois and Wisconsin — Cory. 373 



Length, 24 to 26; wing, 11; tarsus, 3.10 to 3.40; tail, 4.20 to 5.30. 



The immature bird has the general plumage mottled dark brown 

 and gray, the feathers marked and streaked with pointed blotches of 

 grayish or buff; outer web of primaries, buff color; under parts, 

 streaked with black and white. 



A common summer resident in Illinois and Wisconsin, breeding iii 

 colonies, usually in trees but at times in swampy places among reeds. 

 Nelson states he found them nesting in a dense growth of wild rice. 

 The eggs are 4 or 5, sometimes 6 in number, pale blue, and measure 

 about 2 X 1.45 inches. It arrives from the south late in April and 

 the eggs are laid in May and early in June. 



Genus NYCTANASSA Stejneger. 



89. Nyctanassa violacea (Linn.). 



Yellow-crowned Night Heron. 



Nycticorax violaceus (Linn.), A. O. U. Check List, 1895, p. 74. 



Distr.: Tropical and subtropical America, from the Carolinas, 

 southern Illinois, the lower Ohio Valley, and Lower California south 

 to Brazil; accidental or casual north to Massachusetts and Colorado. 



Adult: Top of the head, whitish buff, extending into a crest; 

 sides of the head, black; throat, black; breast and under parts, grayish 

 plumbeous; back, plumbeous; two or three very long feathers extend- 

 ing as long plumes from the crest; legs, greenish. 



Length, about 23; wing, 13.20; tail, 4; tarsus, 3.70; bill, 2.60. 



Immature birds have the crown dusky, streaked with white or 

 bufEy white, the rest of the plumage heavily mottled, blotched with 

 pointed marks of brown; also marked with buff and dull white; pri- 

 maries, slate color, showing no rufous. The immature birds of this 

 species somewhat resemble those of the Black-crowned Night Heron, 

 but differ from it, having the head darker and no rufous on the pri- 

 maries. 



The Yellow-crowned Night Heron seems to be of regular occur- 

 rence in southern Illinois, where it is claimed to breed. The nest is 

 a mass of sticks usually in a tree near water. The eggs are 4 or 5, 

 pale blue in color, and measure about 1.95 x 1.40 inches. As far as 

 known it has not been observed as far north as Wisconsin. 



Ridgway states (Ornithology of Illinois, p. 136): "The Yellow- 

 crowned Night Heron occurs during summer throughout at least the 

 southern third of Illinois, though of course only in such localities as 

 are suited to it. These consist of timbered swamps, where the princi- 



