Birds of Celebes: Ardeidae. 
849 
spots or (on scapulars and wing-coverts) vermiculate bai-s of white; some of the inner 
primary coverts chestnut with broad white tips and a subterminal black portion; 
remiges blackish slaty, broadly tipped with white; tail-feathers blackish slaty, the 
lateral ones with imperfect subterminal white narrow bars; under parts buff-white, 
mottled and spotted Avith blackish brown, as in the adult (juv. Esang, Talaut, 
•29. Oct. 94; Nat. Coll. — 0 13856). 
Transition. A third example is changing from young to adult plumage: general plumage 
as in the adult, but munerous worn feathers of immaturity (blackish with white 
sagittate spots or tips) on the sides of the neck, nape, and sides of head; others 
among the wing-coverts and inner remiges (Esang, 24. Oct. 94: Nat. Ooll. — 0 13855). 
Measurements. 
Wing 
Tail 
Tarsus 
a. (0 13854) ad., Talaut (Nat. Coll.) . . 
h. (C 13855) vix ad., Talaut (Nat. Ooll.) . 
c. IG 13856) juv., Talaut (Nat. Ooll.) . . 
For comparison: G. melanoh'phus 
d. (0 12415) hnm., Java (v. Schierbrand) 
e. (0 12414) juv., Java (v. Schierbrand). 
f. Nicobar Is. cf ad.? (Hume 3) .. . 
g. Nicobar Is. Q (Hume 3] 
235 
83 
60 
239 
88 
65 
229 
82 
61 
256 
95 
67 
•254 
92 
63 
260 
— 
58 
232 
— 
58 
Mid. toe 
and claw 
Exposed 
culmen 
48 
48 
53 
51 
51 
49 
56 
44 
53 
ca.44 
— 
44 
— 
46 
Nest and eggs. “The nest was placed among the tangled masses of undergrowth a few feet 
from the ground, and contained two white eggs, slightly greenish, on 27*’“ June. Axis 
1.9, diam. 1.45” = 48 X 37 mm (Palawan: Whitehead 19). 
Distribution. Philippines — Luzon (Kutter d 1), Oebu and Masbate (Bourns & Wore. 
bl2), Guimaras and Mindanao (Steere b 11), Palawan (Whitehead b 6, b 9, Plat. 
b 7); North Borneo (Whitehd. b 10)-, Talaut Islands — Karkellang (Nat. Coll, b 14)-, 
? North Celebes — Gorontalo (Bosenberg a 2). 
The genus Gorsachius is a form about which it is almost impossible at present 
to obtain exact knowledge. It consists probably of three or more species or 
local races found from India and Japan as far as Pelew Islands, Halmahera 
and Java. Systematically Gorsachius seems to have affinities with the Night 
Herons, Nycticorax, but differs by its toes being much shorter than the tarsus, 
by the more expansive skin on the soles of its feet, by the longer and coarser 
pectinations of the claw of the middle toe, by its differently shaped bill (the 
nasal groove being broader and deeper); it lacks the long, narrow, occipital 
plumes of Nyctiewax, while the broad white tips to the remiges of Gorsachius 
form a very unusual character in a Heron, except in young birds. It agrees 
with Nycticorax in having the scales on the front of the tarsus for the most 
part reticulate or iirregular, in having 12 tail-feathers as Seebohm first re- 
marked (B. Japan, 225), and by its short neck. The plumage of the young is 
more Bittern-like than that of Nycticorax, and the adult also resembles the 
Bitterns in the irregular character of the markings on its wings and under sur- 
face, but the true Botaurus has 10 tail-feathers and very long toes. The New 
Guinea Bittern, Zonxi-odius, which has 12 tail-feathers, evidently stands nearer to 
it than Botaurus. 
Meyer & Wiglesworth, Birds of Celebes (Dec. 10th, 1897). 
107 
