NYCTICORAX GEISEUS. 



AUKU KOHILI. 



Ardea nycticorax, Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. 12, i. p. 235 (1766) ; A. grisea, id. torn. cit. p. 239. 



Ardea neevia, Boddaert, Tab!. PI. Enl. p. 56. 



Ardea exilis, Peale, U.S. Exp]. Exped. p. 216 (1848) ; Dole, Proc. Boston Soc. N. H. 1869, p. 303; 



id. Haw. Alman. 1879, p. 53 (nee Gmelin). 

 Botaurus exilis, Cassia, U.S. Expl. Exped. p. 300 (1858) (ex Peale, nee Gmelin). 

 Ardea sacra, Dole, Proc. Boston Soc. N. H. 1869, p. 303 (partim) ; id. Haw. Alman. 1879, p. 52 



(partim) ; Finsch, Ibis, 1880, p. 79 (partim) (nee Gmel.). 

 Nycticorax nycticorax ncevius, Stejneger, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mns. 1887, p. 84 ; 1888, p. 102. 

 Nycticorax griseus, Wiglesworth, Aves Polyn. p. 69 (1891). 

 Nycticorax nycticorax, Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xxvi. p. 146 (1898). 



[Except with regard to a few cases, the above citations refer to the Sandwich Islands, 

 or at least to the Pacific Ocean.] 



De. Stejnegee was the first to determine the Night-Heron as a bird of these islands, 

 though it had doubtless been seen there previously by Mr. Dole and Dr. Finsch — the 

 former of whom described what must have been an adult of this species under the 

 name of Ardea sacra, while he referred other specimens (as the above synonymy will 

 shew) to A. exilis — a species which there is no reason to believe occurs in the group 1 . 

 Dr. Stejneger was at first troubled with doubts as to whether the specimens sent to him 

 by Mr. Knudsen from Kauai belonged to the New or Old World form of Nycticorax, 

 and finally came to the conclusion that they agreed in every respect with American 

 examples. Fortunately these doubts need not trouble us, since it is now generally 

 allowed that no specific distinction between the two alleged forms can be maintained. 



I observed many individuals in the neighbourhood of Waikiki, in Oahu, during my 

 visit to the islands in 1887, while I obtained some immature specimens on Kauai ; 

 but I never met with an instance of this species breeding. Mr. Perkins, however, says 

 that the bird is very abundant throughout the islands, at fish-ponds near the sea, on 

 mud-fiats, and on mountain streams. It breeds together in numbers at low elevations 

 on the mountains, generally on kukui trees. 



Description. — Adult male and female. Crown, nape, and back glossy greenish black, 



1 Mr. GL E. Gray, however (Cat. B. Trop. Isl. p. 49), has under the name of A. exilis " Society Islands 

 (Oahu) " ! 



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