BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 25 



straight ; legs short, but stout ; the tarsus equal to the middle toe ; covered through- 

 out with hexagonal scales, the anterior largest, but those on the upper portion much 

 larger, and going entirely across ; tibia bare for about one-fifth ; lateral toes nearly 

 equal; the outer rather longest; claws small; considerably curved; tail short, of 

 twelve broad, rather stiff feathers. 



Head with the occipital feathers elongated, and with two or three very long, straight 

 feathers (as long as the bill and head) springing from the occiput. These are rolled 

 up so as to appear like a single cylindrical feather; back of the neck covered with 

 down, but not provided with long feathers; interscapular feathers and scapulars 

 elongated and lanceolate, the webs scarcely decomposed. 



The upper part of the head, including the upper eyelids, the occipital crest, and 

 the interscapular region and scapulars, dark lustrous steel-green ; the wings and 

 tail are ashy-blue ; the under parts, the forehead, and the long occipital feathers, are 

 white, passing into pale ashy-lilac on the sides and on the neck above ; this color, in 

 fact, tinging nearly the whole under parts. The region along the base of the bill, 

 however, is nearly pure, as are the tibia. The bill is black ; the loral space green ; 

 the iris red; the feet yellow; the claws brown. 



Length, about 25 inches ; wing, 12.50; tarsus, 3.15; bill, above, 3.10. 



Hab. America, from the British possessions southward to the Falkland Islands, 

 including part of the West Indies. 



Next to the Green Heron the Night Heron is unquestionably the 

 most abundant of the family in this State. The adult birds are easily 

 distinguished from other Herons by the black feathers on top of head 

 and back, red eyes, and frequently three long, fine, white feathers, 

 which grow from the base of the head. The plumage of the young 

 birds is grayish-brown above, with numerous spots or stripes of 

 white ; lower parts lighter ; eyes light yellow. 



The appellation, Night Heron, is highly appropriate, as this bird is 

 strictly nocturnal in its habits. During the daytime the Night Heron 

 is inactive, and generally is found perched on a log or the limb of a 

 tree in a quiet nook about the swamps and streams. As twilight ap- 

 proaches this drowsy wader becomes, as it were, a new^ being im- 

 pelled, no doubt, by the pangs of hunger he stands erect, the loose 

 and shaggy plumage, which before seemed ill-adapted to his body, 

 now fits neat and closely as he carefully walks to the extremity of the 

 dead and decorticated limb on which he has been dozing, and sud- 

 denly with a loud squawk launches himself into the air, uttering at 

 short intervals his harsh note, and, rising above the trees of the forest, 

 he speedily visits some favorite mill-dam. These birds arrive in Penn- 

 sylvania about the 25th of April and remain until the latter part of 

 September. They seem to repair at once on their arrival in spring to 

 localities where they are accustomed to breed. After the breeding, 

 i. e., about the middle of August, when the young are amply able to 

 provide for themselves these birds forsake their nesting-places and be- 

 come quite plentiful along the rivers, streams and bushy marshes. 

 The Night Heron rarely, if ever, breeds singly, but always in large 

 companies. I have visited, on different occasions, two of these breed- 

 ing resorts and found from twenty-five to seventy-five nests, which, 



