NYCTICORAX. 133 



blackish of crown ; colors generally more sombre, with median lower 

 parts less purely white. Young : Above light brown, tinged with cin- 

 namon (especially on quills), each feather (except quills and tail- 

 feathers) marked with a median tear-shaped or wedge-shaped stripe of 

 white, the quills with small white spots at tips ; tail-feathers plain ash- 

 gray ; sides of head and neck, and entire lower parts, striped with 

 grayish brown and white, the chin and throat plain white medially. 

 Length about 23.00-26.00, wing 11.00-12.80, culmen 2.80-3.10, tarsus 

 3.10-3.40, middle toe (without claw) 2.65-3.10. Eggs 2.01 X 1-47. Hab. 

 Nearly the whole of America, except Arctic regions. 



202. N. nycticorax nsevius (Bodd.). Black-crowned Night Heron. 



a 2 . Culmen much shorter than tarsus (only a little longer than middle toe) ; gonys 



convex, and lateral outlines of bill straight, or sometimes even perceptibly 



convex ; tarsus much longer than middle toe ; scapulars lengthened, narrow 



(but not pointed), somewhat loose-webbed. (Subgenus Nyctherodius Keich.) 



Adult : Top of head and elongated patch on side of head, white, the first 



often stained with rusty brown, and in freshly-killed or living specimens 



deeply tinted with delicate primrose-yellow ; rest of head black ; plumage 



in general bluish plumbeous, plain beneath, but on upper parts striped 



with black. Young : Above sooty grayish brown, streaked with dull 



white or pale buff, the streaks more wedge-shaped on wing-coverts; 



lower parts soiled whitish, striped with brownish gray. Length 22.00- 



28.00, wing 10.50-12.65, culmen 2.50-3.00, tarsus 3.10-4.20, middle toe 



2.20-2.55. Eggs 1.96 X 1-42. Hab. Whole of tropical and subtropical 



America, including West Indies ; north regularly to Missouri, Illinois, 



Indiana, and North Carolina, irregularly or casually much farther. 



203. N. violaceus (Linn.). Yellow-crowned Night Heron. 



