605 



GREEN BITTERN. 



Le Crabier de Cayenne. Buff. PL Enl. g08. ? 

 Small Bittern. Catesb. Carol. 1. pi. 80. 



Green Heron. Lath. Gen. Si/n. 5. 68. 30. — IVills. Amef, Orrit 



7.9;. /^^.ixi.y: 1. 



Length eighteen inches : the beak is greenish 

 brown ; the under mandible yellowish at the base : 

 the irides are yellow : lores naked, and yellow ; 

 the crown of the head of a dusky golden-green, 

 glossed with copper : the feathers of the occiput 

 elongated, and forming a crest : neck rusty bay- 

 colour : the back, tail, and wings, are dusky brown, 

 tinged with plumbeous : the lesser wing-coverts 

 and primary quills similar in colour to the back, 

 and edged with yellowish : the middle and greater 

 wing-coverts dark glossy green, fringed with fer- 

 ruginous : the chin and throat are white : the rest 

 of the fore-part of the neck streaked with white : 

 beneath, and following the direction of the under 

 jaw, is a ferruginous stripe : the feathers on the 

 lower part of the neck are narrow, and fall over 

 the breast ; those of the back are similar, and 

 cover the rump : the legs are greenish. The sup- 

 posed female, or more probably the young bird, 

 has the crown dusky ; its feathers not elongated, 

 and those of the neck pale brown, streaked with 

 white : the back and scapulars are brown, the latter 

 slightly tipped with white : all the wing-coverts 

 have a triangular white spot at the tip, and the 

 last row have their edges of that colour : the 

 secondary quills are dusky green, edged with 

 paler : the greater quills brown, glossed with green, 



