Order ARDEIF0RME8 
No. 247. 
Family ARDEIDjE. 
IXOBRYCHUS MINUTUS DUBIUS. 
LITTLE BITTERN. 
(Plate 197.)* 
IxoBRYCHUS MINUTUS DUBIUS Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 234, 1912 ; Herds- 
man’s Lake, South-west Australia. 
Ardea pusilla (not Muller, 1776) Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. d’Hist. Nat., Vol. XIV., p. 432, 
1817. 
Ardetta jmsilla Gould, Birds Austr., Vol. VI., pi. 68, 1848 ; id., Handb. Birds Austr., 
Vol. II., p. 319, 1865 ; Ramsay, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.) 1877, p. 343 ; North, 
Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., Ser. II., Vol. X., p. 219, 1895 ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds 
Brit. Mus., Vol. XXVI., p. 234, 1898 ; North, Birds County Cumberl., 
p. 102, 1898 ; Hall, Key Birds Austr., p. 100, 1899 ; Campbell, Nests and Eggs 
Austr. Birds, p. 965, 1901 ; Hill, Emu, Vol. Ill,, p. 229, 1904 ; Hall, Key Birds 
Austr., p. 100, 1906; Mathews, Hand!, Birds Austral., p. 33, 1908 ; North, Austr. 
Mus. Sp. Cat., no. 1, Vol, IV., p. 40, 1913. 
Ardeola pusilla Bonaparte, Comptes Rendus Sci. (Paris), Vol. XL., p. 722, 1855. 
Botaurus minutus subsp. pusillus Reichenow, Journ. fiir Ornith. 1877, p. 243. 
Ardetta minuta (not Linne) Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., Vol. II., p. 199, 1878 ; 
id., Tabl, List Austr. Birds, p. 21, 1888. 
Ixdbrychus minutus pusillus Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 234, 1912. 
Ixohrychus minutus duhius Mathews, ih. (Herdsman’s Lake, South-west Australia) ; id., 
List Birds Austr., p. 85, 1913. 
Ixohrychus minutus alisteri Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. I., p. 188, 1918 (New 
South Wales). 
Distribution. Northern Territory ; Queensland ; New South Wales ; Victoria ; South- 
west Australia. 
Adult male. Crown of head and nuchal crest sooty-black, like the back, scapulars, 
upper tail-coverts and tail, with a certain amount of gloss ; sides of face and 
entire hind-neck rich chestnut, as also some of the outer lesser upper wing- 
coverts and the greater coverts ; remainder of the upper wing-coverts buff ; 
bastard-wing, primary-coverts and quills blackish-brown, with rufous tips to 
some of the feathers, the outer web of the first primary paler and narrower 
than the others ; sides of chin and throat white ; fore-neck and breast buff, 
which becomes paler on the sides of the body, flanks, and thighs ; an irregular 
*The Plate is lettered Ixohrychus alisteri. 
473 
