NIGHT-HERON. 
Mr. J. P. Rogers found the birds common in North-west Australia. 
They were seen fishing after sunrise and up till ten o’clock on bright 
hot and calm days. They perched on some rocks on the water’s edge and 
when a fish came to the surface, as far as ten feet away in deep water, 
a bird would fiy out and alight on the water, making a snap at the fish 
as it did so ; the wings were kept raised, and the bird only stayed a 
second or two on the water and then flew back to the rocks. When 
drinking in the hot weather one was observed to do so very slowly, 
taking a sip at about one minute intervals. They were also found on 
Melville Island. 
Captain S. A. White says : “ From the time my grandfather took up 
this piece of country (before the Colony was proclaimed) these interesting 
birds were constant residents at the ‘ Reedbeds.’ I say constant because 
never at any time are they absent altogether. They were always to be 
observed in the daytime roosting in the large gum trees, even in those 
that overshadowed the home. When felling some of these trees by blast- 
ing, the birds left their old haunts and established themselves in an 
avenue of thick pines. Just at dusk they begin to call in a very harsh 
and loud croaking voice, then some take flight and wheel round the tops 
of the trees, alighting on the top of the highest, calling all the while to 
their friends ; when half-a-dozen or so collect they flop away with a 
labouring heavy flight to the streams and water-holes in the district, and 
in the winter to the swamps. One of their principal foods is the fresh- 
water crayfish or yabbies. At night they move quickly when foraging. 
Although I have never known them to breed at the Reedbeds, young are 
commonly observed.” 
Mr. Tom Carter records that this bird occurs fairly numerously in the 
mangroves on the Mid-west coast, sometimes passing the heat of the day 
in small flocks perched on the upper branches. One was shot many miles 
inland from Point Cloates, when perched in a clump of mallee. They 
breed in colonies in the clefts of rocky cliffs on islands near Fremantle, 
West Australia. 
Mr. J. W. Mellor says they “ stand during the day with their heads 
tucked back into the long feathers of the upper-back. They are nocturnal 
birds. They leave the Reedbeds about July and August to breed on the 
Murray cliffs and such-like haunts, returning about January.” 
Mr. Tom Tregellas sends me the following : “ The bird enclosed is a 
young specimen, in the plumage of which they are frequently mistaken for 
the Southern Stone-Plover or land Curlew, the markings at this stage being 
very similar. They sometimes mate and nest whilst in this state, though 
as a rule they attain their full nankeen colour before mating. As a 
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