Genus— B UTORIDES. 
Butorides Blyth, Cat. Birds. Mus. As. Soc. Bengal, 
p. 281, 1852 . . . . . . . . . . . . Type B. javanica. 
Ocniscus Cabanis, Journ. fiir Ornith. 1856, p. 343 . . Type B. javanica. 
Tohurides Mathews, Austral Av. Bee., Vol. I., p. 195, 
1913 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Type B. rogersi. 
Small Ardeine birds with long bills, long necks, long wings, short tail, short 
legs, and long toes. 
The head is well crested, but there are no breast-plumes, and only a 
short dorsal ornamentation of lanceolate feathers in the breeding-season. 
The bill is long and slender, longer than the tail or metatarsus, and 
more than one-third the length of the wing : it is typically ardeine in 
structure. 
The wing has the second primary longest, though little exceeding the 
first, while the first and third are subequal. 
The tail is short, consisting of twelve feathers, and is only about one- 
third the length of the wing. 
The legs are short, and very little exposed tibia is present ; the 
metatarsus is noticeably smaller than the culmen in length, and not much 
longer than the middle toe. 
The metatarsus is reticulated throughout from its juvenile stage. The 
interwebbing of the toes is typically ardeine. 
I have withdrawn the generic Tohurides proposed for the species 
B. rogersi. 
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