42 
abdea nycticorax. 
cream, aiul under the tvings with very pale ash ; baffe 
and scapulars, of the same deep dark blue, glossed witl' 
green, as that of the crown ; rump and tail-coverts a* 
well as the whole n ings and tail, very pale ash ; le-P 
and feet, a pale yellow cream colour ; inside of tW 
middle claw, serrated. 
The female differed in nothing as to plumage frotn 
the male, but in the wings being of rather a deepc' 
ash, having not only the dark deep gieen blue cron" 
“ n’ " kite Illumes froi" 
the hindhead. Lacli of the females contained a larg" 
cluster ot eggs of various sizes. 
The young hud was shot soon after it had left 
the nest, and differed very little from those which hai 
been taken from the trees, e.xcept in being somewltiii 
larger. This measured tuenty-one inches in leinrtl'' 
and three feet in e.xtent; the general colour abovl » 
o^wIIr brown streaked with reddish white, the spot- 
of white on the liiick and tvings beiii"- triani'ular froiJ 
the centre of the feather to the tiji; quills, deep duskh 
marked on the tips with a .spot of whit;,- eye vivi'f 
orange; belly, white, streaked with dusky, the feather 
being pale dusky, streaked down their centres niti 
white; legs and feet, light green; inside of the middk 
claw slightly pectinated ; body and wings, exceediiigK 
thin and limber; the down still stuck iii slight tufts'fi' 
tlie^tips of sonio of the fcfltbors. 
breed in great niinibers in fh" 
• New Orleans ; for, being in that cit.t 
in t e month of June, I frequently observed the Indiait" 
SI ing in market with the dead and livin.r youno- bir<f" 
and the nhite ihis, {tantalus albus,) for which nit^ 
Ttrfoo°d oTlh' purchasers. 
the food of the night heron, or qua bird, is chief!'' 
composed of small (i.sh, tvliich it fakes by nio-h'- 
Those tha I opened had a large expansion of the gulk' 
immediately under the bill, that narrowed from tLnf^ 
finS" ‘l *’ "m!" ' oblong pouch, and w'ly 
filled with fish. The teeth of the pectinated claw wc>" 
