1158 
ARDETTA SINENSIS. 
Edification. —It is probable that this little Bittern breeds about the same time in Ceylon that it does in 
n la. heie I find that Mr. Doig found its nests in Sindh in May and August, and Mr. Oates in Pegu in 
the same month I am not aware that the nest has ever been found in Ceylon. It builds in the centre of a 
f ump o m rushes or reeds, or even in a tussock of grass, according to Mr. Doig. The eggs vary from three 
,° V ®, m mi “ be *' , and ’ aceordlD g to the last-named gentleman, are « nearly spherical in shape’” and when 
first blown of a delicate sea-green, fading after a time almost to white. They vary from 1A5 to I -25 inch in 
eng h, and from 0-9 to 0-95 in breadth. Mr. Oates describes his eggs as without gloss and a pale green 
colour, four specimens varying in length from D26 to P31 inch, and in breadth from 093 to 0-97. Captain 
Butler describes two found at Milana as long and cylindrical, white, faintly tinted with skim-milk blue. 
Subgenus ARDEIRALLA *. 
As m Ardetta, but with the tibia not feathered to the knee. 
- As the very marked difference in the feathering of the tibia in the last and two following species precludes the 
possduhty of my keeping all these m the same genus, I have retained Ardetta for the Eastern Li tie Bitter as it is 
similar m all respects to A. mmuta, the type of the genus Ardetta. ’ !t 18 
