SQUACCO HERON. 



575 



the industry of Scopoli that we are indebted for 

 extricating us from this labyrinth. The bird 

 now under consideration possesses the following 

 plumage after the age of three years : the forehead 

 and top of the head have the feathers slightly 

 elongated, and yellowish, marked with longitudinal 

 black rays : the occiput is ornamented with eight 

 or ten narrow long feathers, which are slightly 

 edged with black : the throat is black : the neck, 

 top of the back, and scapulars, a bright red : the 

 feathers of the back long, slender,, and of a bright 

 chesnut : the whole of the rest of the plumage is 

 of a pure white : the beak is fine cserulean blue at 

 its base, and black at the tip : the naked space 

 round the eyes is greyish green : the irides are 

 yellow : the legs yellow, shaded with green : the 

 naked space above the knee very small : length 

 from sixteen to eighteen inches. The young have 

 not the long occipital feathers : the whole of the 

 head, the neck, and the wing-coverts, are red- 

 brown, with deeper longitudinal spots : the throat, 

 the rump, and the tail, are pure white : the fea- 

 thers of the wings are white on their inner webs, 

 and greyish on their outer and towards their tips : 

 the top of the back and the scapulars are varied 

 with different shades of brown : the upper man- 

 dible of the beak is brown and greenish ; the under 

 green-yellow : the naked skin round the eyes is 

 green : the irides are bright yellow, and the legs 

 are grey-green. 



This bird is extremely abundant in Asia and 

 Africa, frequenting the bays of the Caspian Sea, 



