DRY HERON. 



(Ardea Hoactli.) 



Ar. crisfd nigrdy corpore nigro-virescente suhtus albo, alis cauddque 

 cinereis. 



Heron with a black crest j the body black-green ; beneath 



white J the wings and tail cinereous. 

 Ardea Hoactli. Gmel. Si/st. Nat. 1, 630.^ Lath. Lid, Orn. 2. 



700. 84. 



Ardea mexicana cristata. Briss. Orn. 5. 218. 11. 

 Hoactli. EaiL Syn. 178. 8. — Buff. Ois. J. 382. male. 

 Hoacton. Will. 39 1. female. 

 Dry Heron. Lath. Gen. Syn. 5. 100. 79. 



Length two feet three inches : the beak black, 

 with its sides yellow : the irides yellow : eyelids 

 red ; the head black, furnished with a crest of the 

 same colour : fore-part of the former w^hite : space 

 between the beak and eye naked, and yellowish : 

 the upper parts of the neck and the body are 

 greenish black : the wing-coverts are greenish ash : 

 the quills and tail cinereous : the under parts of 

 the body are all white : the legs are yellow. The 

 female has the upper parts of the body brown, 

 varied with white : the under white, varied with 

 brown : in other respects similar to the male. 



This species inhabits Mexico, frequenting marshy 

 places, and breeding among reeds. 



