146 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 
Fig. 38. Nest of Green Heron. 
From photograph by Thos. L. Hankinson. 
76. Black-crowned Night Heron. Nycticorax nycticorax naevius 
(Bodd.). (202) 
Synonyms: Night Heron, Quawk, Squawk.—Ardea nevia, Bodd., 1783.—Botaurus 
nevius Briss., 1760.—Nyctiardea grisea var. nevia, Allen, 1872.—Nyctiardea gardeni, 
Baird, 1858. 
When adult never to be mistaken for anything else, the green-black 
crown and back, white underparts, thread-like occipital plumes, and 
brilliant red eyes, forming a unique combination. The immature bird, 
gray-streaked and with yellow eyes, might be mistaken for the common 
Bittern which has about the same size and general appearance, but the 
tints of the Bittern are much browner and the plumage never shows the 
white spots and streaks of the Night Heron. 
Distribution.—America, from Ontario and Manitoba southward to the 
Falkland Islands, including part of the West Indies. 
This odd and beautiful heron seems to be nowhere common in Michigan. 
It has been taken here and there throughout the lower half of the Lower 
Peninsula, but always singly and at long intervals. Most of the specimens 
taken are young birds and found in late summer and early autumn. Ac- 
cording to Swales (Birds of 8. E. Mich., 1904) “It is now a rare bird and 
seldom recorded. * * * In 1904, May 5, one was taken at St. Clair 
Flats. and on July 16 I saw*one near the River Rouge.” Langille says 
that formerly it was “constantly seen at the Flats in summer, sometimes in 
large flocks, and no doubt bred in woods not far‘away” (Bull. Buffalo Soc. 
Nat. Sci. 1877, 39). Mr. T. L. Hankinson found it by no means uncommon 
