THE NANKEEN NIGHT HERON. 
549 
cedars near Cape May are several of these breeding-places, intermixed with those of the Little 
Egret, Green Bittern, and Blue Heron. The nests are built entirely of sticks, in considerable 
quantities, with frequently three or four nests on the same tree. On entering the swamp in 
the neighborhood of one of these breeding-places, the noise of the old and the young would 
almost induce one to suppose that two or three hundred Indians were choking or throttling 
each other. The instant an intruder is discovered, the whole rise in the air in silence, and 
remove to the tops of the trees, in another part of the wood, while parties of from eight to 
ten make occasional circuits over the spot to see what is going on. 
“ Though it is probable that those birds do not see well during the day, yet their faculty of 
hearing must be exquisite, as it is almost impossible, with all the precautions one can use, to 
penetrate near their residence without being discovered. Several species of hawks hover 
around, making an occasional sweep among the young, and the bald eagle himself has been 
seen reconnoitering near the spot, probably with the same design.” The sexes are so alike in 
color of plumage they can scarcely be distinguished. 
The length of the Night Heron, as tliis bird is called in the Northern States, is two feet 
four inches; the extent of wing is four feet; bill, four and a quarter inches. The iris is a 
brilliant blood-red. The eye is large, and gives a striking, beautiful appearance to the bird. 
This bird breeds in great numbers in the vicinity of New Orleans. 
The White-crowned Night Heron (Ny ether odias molaceus) is a Southern species, 
quite common in the Gulf States, but not seen north of Pennsylvania. It is about the size 
of the preceding, and has much plainer plumage. 
The Nankeen Night Heron is a native of Australia, and is thus described by Mr. 
Gould : — 
“This beautiful species is universally dispersed over the continent of Australia, but is far 
less abundant over the western than over the eastern coast. In the summer latitudes it is only 
a summer visitant, arriving in New South Wales and South Australia in August and Septem- 
ber, and retiring again in February. As its name implies, it is nocturnal in its habits, 
and from its frequenting swamps, inlets of the sea, the sedgy banks of rivers, and other 
secluded situations, it is seldom seen. On the approach of morning it retires to the forests, 
and perches among the branches of large trees, where, shrouded from the heat of the sun, it 
sleeps the whole day, and when once discovered is easily taken, as it seldom moves unless shot 
at, or driven from its perch by some other means, and when forced to quit its perch, it merely 
flies a short distance and again alights. Its flight is slow and flapping, and during its passage 
through the air the head is drawn back between the shoulders and the legs are stretched out 
backwards after the manner of true Herons. When perched upon the trees or resting on the 
ground, it exhibits none of the grace and elegance of those birds, its short neck resting on the 
shoulders. 
“When impelled by hunger to search for a supply of food it naturally becomes more 
animated, and its actions more active and prying ; the varied nature of its food, in fact, demands 
some degree of activity— fishes, water-lizards, crabs, frogs, leeches, and insects being all par- 
taken of with equal avidity. It breeds in the months of November and December, and gen- 
erally in companies like the true Herons ; the favorite localities being the neighborhood of 
swampy districts, where an abundant supply of food is to be procured ; the branches of large 
trees, points of shelving rocks, and caverns, are equally chosen as a site for the nest, which is 
rather large and flat, and generally composed of crooked sticks loosely interwoven. 
“The eggs, which are usually three in number, are of a pale-green color, and average two 
inches and five-eighths in length by one inch and a half in breadth. So little difference exists 
in the coloring of the sexes, that it is extremely difficult to distinguish the male from the 
female, and never with certainty, unless dissection be resorted to ; both have the three beauti- 
ful elongated occipital plumes, the use of which except for ornament is not easily imagined. 
The young, on the contrary, differ so greatly from the adult, that they might readily be 
regarded as a distinct species.” 
