NIGHT HERON. 307 
dress of fig. 3, but soon after they have bred, these become more numer- 
ous than the others. Early in October they migrate to the south. 
According to Buffon, these birds also inhabit Cayenne ; and are found 
widely dispersed over Europe, Asia, and America. The European 
species, however, is certainly much smaller than the American ; though, 
in other respects, corresponding exactly to it. Among a great number 
which I examined with attention, the following description was carefully 
taken from a common sized full grown male. 
Length of the Night Heron two feet four inches, extent four feet : 
bill black, four inches and a quarter long, from the corners of the mouth 
to the tip ; lores, or space between the eye and bill, a bare bluish white 
skin ; eyelids also large and bare, of a deep purple blue ; eye three 
quarters of an inch in diameter, the iris of a brilliant blood red, pupil 
black ; crested crown and hind-head deep dark blue, glossed with green ; 
front and line over the eye white; from the hind-head proceed three 
very narrow white tapering feathers, between eight and nine inches in 
length ; the vanes of these are concave below, the upper one enclosing 
the next, and that again the lower ; though separated by the hand, if 
the plumage be again shook several times, these long flowing plumes 
gradually enclose each other, appearing as one ; these the bird has the 
habit of erecting when angry or alarmed ; the cheeks, neck, and whole 
lower parts, are white, tinctured with yellowish cream, and under the 
wings with very pale ash ; back and scapulars of the same deep dark blue, 
glossed with green, as that of the crown ; rump and tail coverts, as well as 
the whole wings and tail, very pale ash ; legs and feet a pale yellow cream 
color ; inside of the middle claw serrated. 
The female differed in nothing as to plumage from the male, but in 
the wings being of rather a deeper ash ; having not only the dark deep 
green-blue crown and back, but also the long pendent white plumes from 
the hind-head. Each of the females contained a large cluster of eggs, 
of various sizes. 
The young (fig. 3) was shot soon after it had left the nest, and dif- 
fered very little from those which had been taken from the trees, except 
in being somewhat larger. This measured twenty-one inches in length, 
and three feet in extent; the general color above a very deep brown, 
streaked with reddish white, the spots of white on the back and wings 
being triangular, from the centre of the feather to the tip ; quills deep 
dusky, marked on the tips with a spot of white ; eye vivid orange ; 
belly white, streaked with dusky, the feathers being pale dusky, 
streaked down their centres with white ; less and feet light green ; 
inside of the middle claw slightly pectinated ; body and wings exceed- 
ingly thin and limber ; the down still stuck in slight tufts to the tips of 
some of the feathers. 
These birds also breed in great numbers in the neighborhood of New 
