1168 
NTCTICORAX GRISEUS. 
the other composedly drawn up, and twisted his head upside down, to get a better view of the stranger ! It 
" aSj 011 ^ ie " hole, one of the most comical bird-sights I ever beheld. Subsequently, when either of the birds 
approached it, it shot out its head in like manner, erected its feathers like a porcupine, and gave vent to a 
loud Heron-like crake, quite different to its usual hoarse croak. It eat nothing for weeks, although I tried it 
with worms, frogs, &c. ; and as it appeared to be thriving, I was under the impression that it captured worms 
at night from the floor of the aviary. One morning, however, I found it dead ; and on skinning it, it was 
almost a skeleton, proving that it had eaten almost nothing for seven weeks ! Its legs had changed from orange 
to pale yellow. 
The food of this Heron consists of fish, worms, frogs, and large aquatic insects. In India it nearly always 
roosts on tamarind-trees. 
Nidification . — The Night-Heron breeds in the early part of the year in Ceylon. In March 1872 a colony 
were nesting at Uduwila tank, near Tissa Maha Rama; they chose the thickly -foliaged trees, apart from those 
on which the Herons, Ibises, Cormorants, and Pelicans were nesting; and the nests, made of small twigs and 
sticks, were concealed among the branches. There appear, however, to have been other birds ( Herodias garzetta) 
nesting in the same tree, as some eggs I took, and sent to Mr. Hume, turned out to be too small for the Night- 
IIeron. In India, where it breeds often in its favourite tamarind-tree, but also occasionally in rushes and reeds, 
the breedmg-time is in July and August, and in Cashmere in April and May. The eggs are short ovals, and 
delicate pale sea-green in colour, ranging in length from 1'68 to 2'0G, and in breadth from 1-3 to 1 Winch 
{Hume ) . 
In China, where it is held sacred in some parts, it nests in public places. Mr. Swinhoe gives an account 
ot a colony at the great Honan Temple, where the nests are placed in banyan-trees within a foot of each other. 
The parents supplied their young with food throughout the day; but at night they all became more active^ 
flying off their nests, and settling first on the bare arms of the cotton-trees {Bombax malabariciim), like 
gaunt spectres, after which they flew away one after the other, “ seldom more than two in the same direction/'’ 
As darkness set in, he writes, “ many returned, and the noise and hubbub from the trees rose to a fearful pitch/’ 
Genus GORSACHIUS. 
Bill short, stout, curved ; the gonys short and slightly ascending ; naral groove deep. Nostrils 
wide ; under mandible laterally compressed at the base. Wings pointed, the 3rd quill the lono-est • 
tertials lengthened, exceeding the closed primaries. Tail short. Legs and toes short ; tarsus 
reticulate. Toes bordered by a narrow membrane ; hind toe proportionately long ; claws short. 
Neck short and densely feathered ; head crested ; plumage soft. 
Of nocturnal habit. 
