ARDEIDrE — THE HERONS — NYCTICORAX. 
57 
With five adult examples for comparison, we have been equally unsuccessful in discovering 
differences between European birds of this species and those from America, beyond the slightly 
smaller size of the former, there being no difference whatever, that we can see, in plumage. We 
have not, however, seen among European specimens those dark-colored examples which occur now 
and then in America. 
A nearly adult specimen from the Sandwich Islands (No. 41951 ; Waimea Kaui ; V. Ivnodsen), 
is very similar in colors to No. 49040 (typical obscurus ) from Chili; it .is smaller, however, and 
lighter-colored beneath ; it is also more adult, and, besides possessing the occipital plumes, has 
the forehead distinctly white. A young bird from the same locality (No. 41952) agrees strictly 
with American specimens of the same age. 
A young specimen from Lake Titicaca (24278, M. C. Z .) differs from North American 
examples in darker colors. 
The following table of measurements, giving the extremes in eacli series, may serve to show 
the difference in size between specimens of this species from various countries, as indicated by the 
series before us ; — 
spec’sf Countr y- 
Wing. 
Tail. 
Culmen. 
Depth of hill. Tarsus. 
Middle-toe. 
14 
North and Middle America, 
11.00-12.80 
4.20-5.30 
2.80-3.10 
.70-. 85 
3.10-3.40 
2.65-3.10 
8 
Chili and Peru, 
12.30-13.56 
5.50-6.00 
2.70-2.90 
.70-. 80 
3.20-3.30 
2.70-3.00 
2 
Brazil and Paraguay, 
11.25-11.75 
4.70-4.80 
2.60-2.70 
3.10-3.20 
2.70 
1 
Sandwich Islands, 
11.00 
4.40 
2.85 
.75 
2.75 
2.55 
1 
Manilla, 
10.80 
4.30 
2.75 
.75 
3.00 
1 
Kooloo Valley, India, 
11.50 
4.80 
2.85 
2. 75 
1 
South Africa, 
10.80 
4.10 
2.40 
.70 
2.75 
2.50 
The Night Heron — “ Qu: 
a-bird,” or 
“ Quak,” 
as this Heron is 
called in 
different 
parts of the country — is distributed over the entire continent, from the Arctic Circle, 
on the extreme northwest, to the opposite extreme of South America. And if we 
regard our American bird as clearly a race of, and hardly varying from, the European 
bird, it must claim to be cosmopolitan in the largest sense, since it is known to occur 
in nearly all parts of the globe. It is resident throughout Central America, and 
breeds in all portions where the situation is favorable. It was found breeding at 
Belize and at Omoa by Mr. Leyland. Mr. G. C. Taylor mentions its presence at 
Fonseca Bay, in Honduras. It was found at Parana, among the reeds of the lagoons, 
and on the islands of the river, by Dr. Burmeister ; and Captain C. C. Abbott, in his 
paper on the Birds of the Falkland Islands (“ Ibis,’’ 1861), states that when he was in 
Hope Place, in December, 1859, he visited one of the breeding-places of this Heron. 
The places selected for laying were the tufts of grass near a freshwater pond, the 
whole of one side of which was covered with them. In some of the nests, which 
were composed of a few coarse sticks, were young birds half grown ; in others eggs, 
three in number, some fresh, others with largely developed embryos. There could 
not have been less than a hundred pairs on the spot, and they were so tame and 
unsuspicious that they had evidently never been disturbed. 
In Europe the Night Heron has apparently less of a northern range than the 
American form. It is rare in England, where less than a dozen stragglers are 
known to have been taken since 1782, when the first recorded specimen was pro- 
cured ; and it is still more rare in Ireland and in Scotland. It is found, more or less 
abundantly, in the warmer parts of Europe, Asia, and in Africa throughout the entire 
region, even as far as the Cape of Good Hope. It is said to inhabit Nepal, as also 
the country about Calcutta, and to be found in China and Japan. 
The Night Heron is found abundantly, and breeds, in most of the West India 
Islands, especially in Cuba, Jamaica, and Trinidad. In the latter it is very abundant 
VOL. i. — 8 
