60 
ALTRICIAL GRALLATORES — HERODIONES. 
loud guttural croak always deterring them from coming too near. He was not afraid 
of the family ; and though he did not like to he handled, would never run away 
to avoid it, but would come at call, even from a distance, evincing disappointment 
when no food was given him. The following illustrates his tenacity to first impres- 
sions. He was once caught wandering off to a neighboring spring for frogs, and 
driven back to the barnyard. In his path was a cart — an obstacle which it was 
necessary to go round — while beyond it was a pile of rubbish, over which he half 
flew. This was repeated three or four times. Afterward, the cart and the rubbish 
having been removed, the bird, when driven home from his wanderings, persisted in 
making a circuit around the spot where the cart had formerly stood, and in giving a 
flying leap over the place where once the pile had previously made this necessary. 
This amusing performance lie would always go through with, and he was occasionally 
made to repeat it for the entertainment of visitors. Once in a while he would stray 
off into Stony Brook, at a point where it flowed past several houses, and would fish 
for himself. On one occasion, his hoarse gurgling cries created an alarm in the 
settlement, and the river was searched at midnight for the supposed drowning indi- 
vidual ; and our pet was in some danger of its own life before the real cause of the 
alarm had been ascertained. It readily endured the cold of one winter ; but an 
unusually severe night in the second winter killed the bird before it had assumed 
its mature plumage. 
Three eggs of this species, taken by Mr. Harold Herrick in a heronry at Chettam, 
N. J., are almost exactly oval in shape, equally tapering at either end, and uni- 
formly washed with a bright, light greenish blue — a light wash of Prussian blue 
with green shadings. These three eggs measure, respectively, 2.32 by 1.53 inches ; 
2.10 by 1.48 inches; and 2.00 inches by 1.44, — showing a remarkable variation in 
size. These were taken May 30, 1873. 
Genus NYCTHERODIUS, Reichenbach. 
Nyctlicrodius, Reichenb. Handb. Orn. (Naturl. Syst. Vog. in Systema Avium), 1851, p. xvi. (type, 
Ardca vinlacea, Linn.). 
Nycticorax, Boie (part), Isis, 1826, 979 (type, Ardca violacca, Linn.). 
Gen. Char. Medium-sized Herons, of short, thick build ; the hill extremely thick and stout, 
with both outlines strongly convex ; the legs long and slender ; the dorsal plumes much elongated 
and very narrow, reaching beyond the tail ; the occiput (in adult) with several extremely long, 
linear white-feathers. Habits nocturnal. 
Bill short and very stout, the culmen curved regularly from the base, the gonys decidedly con- 
vex and very much ascending ; 1 maxillary tomium almost perfectly straight throughout, but 
appreciably concave anteriorly, with a barely perceptible convexity toward the base ; mandibular 
tomium nearly straight, but perceptibly concave anteriorly. 2 Mental apex less than half way from 
centre of eye to end of bill, and about even with anterior end of nostril ; apex of malar region a 
little posterior to the frontal apex. Tarsi long and slender, exceeding the middle toe by more than 
1 The lower outline of the bill is, in fact, more decidedly convex than the upper. 
2 We find considerable variation among individuals in respect to these outlines: thus, a specimen (J 
adult, No. 2759, Mus. R.R.) from Illinois has the mandibular tomium exactly straight to near the end, 
where it gradually ascends to the tip, thereby producing a very slight subterminal concavity ; in No. 2758, 
another adult 9 from the same locality, it is decidedly convex in the middle portion ; while in an adult 
$ , from Mazatlan (No. 58811), it is decidedly concave at the same place, — so much so, in fact, that a 
space is left between it and the upper tomium, on each side, when the bill is closed tight ! These dis- 
crepancies, however, do not affect the general form of the bill, which is eminently characteristic. 
