THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
them almost daily, sometimes several times a day, either singly or from three 
to six birds standing in the shallow water or on the edge of it. These birds 
rose slowly and flew away as our boat approached. As a rule they flew when 
the boat was quite far off ; we occasionally managed to get near them for a 
moment when hidden by a bend in the river.”* 
“ Along the brooks and rivers of the upper Dauria Steppes, the Grey 
Heron was quite an abundant bird. It breeds also in considerable numbers, 
gregariously, on the desert Aral Islands, which lie in the almost dried-up 
basin of the Barun-Tarei. Here they made nests three feet high, standing 
separately on the ground, and they could be recognised at a distance. The 
vegetation growing nearest these islands, offers no materials for the Heron’s 
nest, for it is completely without brushwood and trees. On the little Uldsa 
river, which must be at a distance as the crow flies of quite 12 to 15 versts 
(a verst is 1170 yards), grew a species of wfllow here and there ; and the 
birds must fly northwards 30 to 40 versts before they come to the shrubby 
district of the Onon Valley and find material for their nest-building. One 
heronry was found on April 17, 1856, another on the 21st. A setting of four 
eggs which was found on May 1st were quite fresh. The Heron was also found 
on the Argunj and Amur ; where these streams have a mountainous shore it 
was not so common. On the upper Dauria Steppes it appeared very early, 
that is during the night of March 26-27. On April 4th the main arrival had 
taken place. It leaves this district in the beginning of September. On 
August 30th it was still plentiful in the Valley of the Onon. Some birds delay 
their departure considerably, and live there singly. Several were seen on 
26th September, 1856, in the middle of the Onon Valley. ”t 
The bird figured and described is a female, collected on Hainan Island, 
China, on April 12th, 1902. 
In the Proc. Zool Soc. (Lend.) 1843, p. 22, Gould introduced a new 
species as Ardea rectirostris, thus : — 
“ Ardea rectirostris. Ardea superne fuscescenti-cinerea capite et crista 
nigris ; rostro magis recto atque robusto quam in Ardea cinerea. 
“ Crown of the head and crest dull black ; back of the neck and all the upper surface 
brownish grey, passing into greyish white on the tips of the wing coverts ; secondaries, 
scapularies and tail feathers dark grey ; spurious wing and primaries greyish black ; 
sides of the face and chin white ; down the front of the neck an interrupted line of black, 
formed by each feather having an oblong stripe of black on the inner side of the stem 
near the tip, the marks becoming larger and paler in colour as they approach the chest, 
the same kind of marking continuing over the under surface, but the stripes very pale 
brown ; under tail-coverts white : bill dark horn colour, becoming nearly black on the 
culmen : feet greenish black. 
* Sehrenck, Vogels des Amur-Landes , p. 434, 1860. 
•f Radde, Beisen Suden von Ost-Sibir., p. 343, 1863, 
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