NIGHT HEliON. 307 



dress of fig. 3, but soon after they have bred, these become more numer- 

 ous than the others. Early in October they migrate to the south. 

 According to Buffon, these birds also inhabit Cayenne ; an(l are found 

 widely dispersed over Europe, Asia, and America. The European 

 species, however, is certainly much smaller than the American ; though, 

 in other respects, corresponding exactly to it. Among a great number 

 which I examined with attention, the following description was carefully 

 taken from a common sized full grown male. 



Length of the Night Heron two feet four inches, extent four feet ; 

 bill black, four inches and a quarter long, from the corners of the mouth 

 to the tip ; lores, or space between the eye and bill, a bare bluish white 

 skin ; eyelids also large and bare, of a deep purple blue ; eye three 

 quarters of an inch in diameter, the iris of a brilliant blood red, pupil 

 black ; crested crown and hind-head deep dark blue, glossed with green ; 

 front and line over the eye white ; from the hind-head proceed three 

 very narrow white tapering feathers, between eight and nine inches in 

 length ; the vanes of these are concave below, the upper one enclosing 

 the next, and that again the lower ; though separated by the hand, if 

 the plumage be again shook several times, these long flowing plumes 

 gradually enclose each other, appearing as one ; these the bird has the 

 habit of erecting when angry or alarmed ; the cheeks, neck, and whole 

 lower parts, are white, tinctured with yellowish cream, and under the 

 wings with very pale ash ; back and scapulars of the same deep dark blue, 

 glossed with green, as that of the crown ; rump and tail coverts, as well as 

 the whole wings and tail, very pale ash ; legs and feet a pale yellow cream 

 color ; inside of the middle claw serrated. 



The female differed in nothing as to plumage from the male, but in 

 the wings being of rather a deeper ash ; having not only the dark deep 

 green-blue crown and back, but also the long pendent white plumes from 

 the hind-head. Each of the females contained a large cluster of eggs, 

 of various sizes. 



The young (fig. 3) was shot soon after it had left the nest, and dif- 

 fered very little from those which had been taken from the trees, except 

 in being somewhat larger. This measured twenty-one inches in length, 

 and three feet in extent ; the general color above a very deep brown, 

 streaked with reddish white, the spots of white on the back and wings 

 being triangular, from the centre of the feather to the tip ; quills deep 

 dusky, marked on the tips with a spot of white ; eye vivid orange ; 

 belly white, streaked with dusky, the feathers being pale dusky, 

 streaked down their centres with white ; legs and feet light green ; 

 inside of the middle claw slightly pectinated ; body and wings exceed- 

 ingly thin and limber ; the down still stuck in slight tufts to the tips of 

 some of the feathers. 



These birds also breed in great numbers in the neighborhood of New 



