THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
roosting-place they prefer close, heavy-foliaged trees, in which they stand 
and sleep by day, and emerge as the shades of evening faU, and sally 
forth in quest of food, which occupation lasts till morning, when they 
return to their solitudes. In the Melbourne Zoo an interesting sight may 
be witnessed every evening. As dusk draws out a great number of the 
Magpie Larks that have been out feeding all day return to the trees to 
roost, and at the same time the Night-Herons vacate their places in favour 
of the returning mudlarks. I think there are about 200 of the Night- 
Herons that roost in the Gardens, and as they know they will not be 
molested there, they are absolutely fearless of man.” 
“ Near Idracowra an immature female was obtained. Although a 
nocturnal bird, it appears to be equally sharp-sighted in the bright sun- 
light, and flew off when I was fully forty yards away. Several afterwards 
seen could not be approached within shot. They take shelter during the 
day in the dense foliage of the trees on the margins of the rivers, and at 
night seek their food, which consists of insects, frogs, fish, etc.”* 
“ From its habit of roosting all day in the thickest-foliaged tree it can 
find, the Night-Heron is seldom seen, and therefore naturally gets the 
credit of being more rare than it really is, but it is, nevertheless, a scarce 
bird about Richmond [North Queensland]. The few that I see do not 
a]Dpear to favour any particular season of the year, and the two or three 
that have come into my hands have all been birds in immature plumage. 
“ At the junction of the merrythought with the sternum on each hip, 
and again at the junction of the thighs (inside) with the body, there was 
a queer powder patch. — a pale primrose-yellow, greasy, ropy-looking down, 
quite isolated and devoid of any powder. I have an idea that powder- 
down birds develop the patch, but do not develop the powder till they 
reach maturity.”]* 
The bird figured and described is a male, collected in South Australia 
by Dr. J. B. Cleland, who very kindly presented it to me. It has the 
longest plumes of any bird in my collection. 
In my List of the Birds of Australia, p. 83, 1913, just published, I have 
used for the Australian Night-Heron the name Nycticorax caledonicus 
australasice, based upon Ardea australasice Vieillot [Tahl. Ency. Meth. 
Ornith., Vol. III., p. 1130, 1823). Re-reading the description there offered 
Vieillot is seen to describe a bird thus : — 
“ Le Bihoreau de la Nouvelle Hollande. A. australasias. A. superciliis 
albis ; genis, guise collique lateribus griseis ; vertice nigro : occipite cristato : 
* Keartland, Rep. Horn. Sci. Exp., ZooL, p. 105, 1896. 
t Bemey, Emu, Vol. VI., p. 115, 1907. 
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