NYCTICORAX PURPUREUS. 309 



attached to one another by the air-membranes. The length of tbe 

 whole intestines is not twice the whole length of the bird from head to 

 foot, but is more than seven times the length from shoulder to tail : 

 the length of the rectum is about 5 inches. There is a cavity above 

 the anus whose opening is very large, and the anus also becomes very 

 large. 



The pancreas was so tender that I could not dissect the duct. The 

 gall-bladder is very small and long. The kidneys were short and pretty 

 thick at the upper end. The lungs are small, and situated very much 

 towards the back. 



The East-Indian Bittern [Nycticorax purpureus, Cuv.]. 



It is very much the size of the British bittern, and very similar in 

 manner ; but its colour, on the whole, is that of our heron, viz. a grey- 

 blue. It has, however, three different shades of feathers ; on the 

 upper and back part of the head, the feathers are long and appear 

 almost black, but it is a very dark shining green ; these it raises when 

 attacked. On and between the shoulders the feathers are of the same 

 colour, and some large ones pass towards the tail, which makes the 

 whole back dark ; and when he throws his head back to his shoulders, 

 the head and back make one continued colour. On the back part of the 

 neck the feathers are of a light blue-grey. The outsides of the wing, 

 upper part of the neck and tail, are of the blue-grey ; as is also the 

 under side of the wing, but of a shade lighter. From the throat down 

 the underside of the neck, breast, belly, and tail, the feathers are white, 

 more especially the last 1 . The feathers are long, therefore not thick- 

 set. There is a long small white feather that comes out of the back 

 part of the head, which is very beautiful when the bird raises it : I 

 found this in both male and female. There are sis clumps of feathers 

 of a particular kind in this bird, which makes me class it with the 

 bittern: two are on the fore -part of the breast, two on the upper 

 part of the thigh extending on the pelvis, and one on each side of 

 the belly close to the joining of the thigh ; these are long narrow 

 clumps : the feathers of which these clumps are formed are of a par- 

 ticular kind. 



The legs are long, small, and with long toes ; they are of a yellowish- 

 green colour. This bird perches on trees, and it not only flies from 

 branch to branch, but it climbs from branch to branch by its toes like 

 a parrot ; only it does not make use of its bill. From this circum- 

 stance it is hardly possible to keep them in a garden, although pinioned ; 



1 [The above colours vary with age.] 



