Birds of Celebes; Ardeidae. 
857 
“Swekko burik ketjil” (a name of B. javaniea and A. sinensis), Minahassa, Nat. Coll. 
Figures and descriptions. Schrenck a I\ Swinhoe h I; David and Oustalet b V; 
Taczanowski b 11; M. & Wg. e 1. 
Adult male. Above glossy deep bay, black on forehead and middle of crown, passing into 
chestnut on sides of head, below eye, ear-covcrts, sides of and bind neck, and most 
of the lesser wing-coverts; middle and greater wing-coverts cinnamon; remiges 
and primary coverts dusky slate, the latter and some of the secondaries whitish 
at the tip, innermost quills bay, like back; tail-feathers blackish; submalar region 
and under surface cinnamon-buff, nearly white on under tail-coverts and axillaries, 
a plait-stripe of red-brown down middle of throat; lateral pectoral plumes black, 
broadly edged with tawny -olive or dark cinnamon [cf, Tomohon, 7. X. 94: 
P. & F. Sarasin). 
“Bill blackish brown on culmen, yellowish brown on the rest, darker on sides 
of upper mandible near tomia, light on sides of lower and on gonys. Cere and bare 
skins round eye purplish flesh-colour, tinged with green. Iris straw-yellow. Legs and 
toes grass-green” (Swinhoe 2). 
Female and young male. Differ from the adult male in having the back and scapulars 
black varied with chestnut and covered with white spots of the size of a grain of rice; 
wing-coverts chestnut, broadly tipped and laterally spotted with cinnamon (where not 
exposed, with white); under-parts light rufous-buff, broadly streaked with chestnut 
and blackish ; axillaries white , with slaty centres ( Q , type of A. riedeli, Kema, 
12. Oct. 93; P. & F. Sarasin; Main, 10. Feb. 94: Nat. Ooll. — 0 13256). “Lns gold- 
yellow; feet and legs green, feet below yellow; bill above black, at tlie sides and 
below greenish yellow” (P. & F. S.). The female is sometimes found in adult male 
dress, probably when old (Swinhoe 2). A nearly adult male (apparently moulting) 
has some wliite spotted feathers among the scapulars and inner secondaries, and the 
tlu-oat is streaked with dark brown; axillaries grey, edged with white; in other 
respects it is very like the adult male described (cf, Tomohon, 16. Nov. 94: P. &F. S.). 
Measurements. 
Wing 
Tail 
Tarsus 
Mid. 
toe 
with 
claw 
Ex- 
posed 
culm. 
a. (Sarasin Coll.) cf ad., Tomohon, 7. X. 94 . . . 
149 
40 
51 
55 
53 
b. (Sarasin Coll.) o’ vix ad., Tomohon, 16. XI. 94 . 
144 
44 
47 
53 
49 
c. (Sarasin Coll.) Q, Kema, 12. X. 93 
142 
39 
47 
53 
45 
d. (C 13256) [$?], Main, 10. 11. 94 (Nat. Coll.) . . 
140 
40 
47 
51 
47 
e. (C 12429) [$?], Java (v. Schierbrand) 
142 
41 
47 
51 
47 
Eggs. “Short and nearly eUiptical, pure white with a slight gloss on the surface; shell 
translucent white: size of a sitting from the banks of the river Argoun in Dauria: 
33x27; 33x27; 33.5X27,3 mm” (Taczanowski b 11). Three seem to be the full 
complement of eggs (Swinhoe 1). 
Distribution. S. E. Siberia (Schrenck a I, Dybowski, etc. b 11); Japan (Blakiston & 
Pryer 4, d 2); China (Swinhoe 1, 2, Styan b 10, De La Touche 12); Cochin 
China (fide Sharpe b 12); N. Borneo (Treacher 6, b 9); N. Celebes; Minahassa 
(P.&F. Sarasin, Nat. Coll); Java (v. Schierbrand). 
This Little Bittern was first discovered by v. Schrenck in Amuiiand, where 
he obtained a young example which he identified with A. cinnamomea. Much 
of what is known about the bird is from the pen of Swinhoe, who first detected 
it as new to science and described the remarkable differences of coloration in 
Meyer & Wiglesworth, Birds of Celebes (Dec. 11th, 1S97). 108 
