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Layard, writing on the birds of New Caledonia (Ibis, 1882, p. 531), says of this species : — “This 
Night-Heron is found sparingly wherever we have been ; but it is a curious fact that, though perhaps 
a dozen specimens have come into our hands to be skinned, not one has possessed the long white 
occipital plumes which have garnished the heads of all those we saw in Australia. It may be that 
they are only assumed during the breeding-season, and that they breed only in the north of this 
island.” 
I quote the following interesting account of this Night-Heron from Gould’s ‘Handbook to the 
Birds of Australia’ (vol. ii. pp. 311, 312); — “In the southern latitudes it is only a summer visitant, 
arriving in New South Wales and South Australia in August and September, and retiring again in 
February. As its name implies, it is nocturnal in its habits ; and from its frequenting swamps, the 
sedgy banks of rivers, and other secluded situations, it is seldom seen. On the approach of morning it 
retires to the forests and perches among the branches of large trees, where, shrouded from the heat of 
the sun, it sleeps the whole day, and when once discovered is easily shot; for, if forced to quit its 
perch, it merely flies a short distance and again alights. Its flight is slow and flapping ; and during 
its passage through the air the head is drawn back between the shoulders, and the legs are stretched 
out backwards, after the manner of the true Herons. When perched on the trees, or resting on the 
ground, it exhibits none of the grace and elegance of those birds, its short neck resting on the shoulders. 
When impelled to search for a supply of food, it naturally becomes more animated, and its actions 
lively and prying ; the varied nature of its food in fact demands some degree of activity — Ashes, 
water-lizards, crabs, frogs, leeches, and insects being all partaken of with equal avidity. 
“ It breeds in the months of November and December, and generally in companies, like the true 
Herons, the favourite localities being the neighbourhood of swampy districts, where an abundant 
supply of food is to be procured ; the branches of large trees, points of shelving rocks, and caverns are 
equally chosen as a site for the nest, which is rather large and flat, and generally composed of crooked 
sticks loosely interwoven. The eggs, which are usually three in number, are of a pale green colour, 
and average two inches and five eighths in length by one inch and a half in breadth.” 
captured here, although at intervals of many years, were only the introduced stock or their descendants. However, I find the 
following passage, evidently relating to the above species, in an interesting paper by the Rev. W. Colonso, P.R.S., published in 
‘ The Tasmanian Journal of Natural Science’ as far back as 1845 : — “In crossing a very deep swamp [in the Waikato district] 
a beautiful bird, apparently of the Crane kind, rose gracefully from the mud among the reeds and flew slowly past us ; its under 
plumage was of a light yellow or ochre colour, with a dark brown upper plumage. None of my natives know the bird, declaring 
they had never seen such an one before.” For this reason I have the loss hesitation in treating the Nankeen Night-Heron as a 
voluntary visitant. 
In the same paper Mr. Colenso gives the following account of another bird, seen by him in 1845, which has never since 
been recorded in New Zealand : — “A little below Ngaruawahia (on the Waikato river) we met a man in a canoe with a live and 
elegant specimen of the genus Fulica. I hailed the man and purchased the bird, which ho had recently snared, for a little 
tobacco. It was a most graceful creature, and, as far as I am aware, an entirely new and undescribed species. Its general 
colour was dark, almost black ; head grey and without a frontal shield ; fore neck and breast ferruginous red ; wings barred 
with white ; bill produced and sharp ; feet and legs glossy olive ; toes beautifully and largely festooned at the edges ; eye light 
coloured and very animated. It was very fierce and never ceased attempting to bite at everything within its reach. I kept it 
until we landed, intending to preserve it, but as it was late, and neither material at hand nor time to spare, and the animal, 
too, looking so lovely that I could not make up my mind to put it to death, I let it go. It swam, dived, and disappeared .... 
Not a doubt, in my opinion, can exist as to its being naturally allied in habit and affinity to the Fulica ; ; I have therefore named 
it Fulica novae zealandice. In size it was somewhat less than our European species, F. afra.” 
