42 
ARDEA NYCTICORAX. 
cream, and under the wings with very pale ash ; back 
and scapulars, of the same deep dark blue, glossed with 
green, as that of the crown ; rump and tail-coverts, as 
well as the whole wings and tail, very pale ash ; legs 
and feet, a pale yellow cream colour; inside of the 
middle claw, serrated. 
The female differed in nothing as to plumage from 
the male, but in the wings being of rather a deeper 
ash, having not only the dark deep green blue crown 
and back, but also the long pendent white plumes from 
the hindhead. Each of the females contained a large 
cluster of eggs of various sizes. 
The young bird was shot soon after it had left 
the nest, and differed very little from those which had 
been taken from the trees, except in being somewhat 
larger. This measured twenty-one inches in length, 
and three feet in extent ; the general colour above, a 
very deep brown, streaked with reddish white, the spots 
of white on the back and wings being triangular, from 
the centre of the feather to the tip; quills, deep dusky, 
marked on the tips with a spot of white ; eye, vivid 
orange ; belly, white, streaked with dusky, the feathers 
being pale dusky, streaked down their centres with 
white ; legs and feet, light green ; inside of the middle 
claw slightly pectinated ; body and wings, exceedingly 
thin and limber ; the down still stuck in slight tufts to 
the tips of some of the feathers. 
These birds also breed in great numbers in the 
neighbourhood of New Orleans ; for, being in that city 
in the month of June, I frequently observed the Indians 
sitting in market with the dead and living young birds 
for sale ; also numbers of gray owls, ( strix nebulosa ,) 
and the white ibis, ( tantalus albus ,) for which nice 
dainties I observed they generally found purchasers. 
The food of the night heron, or qua bird, is chiefly 
composed of small fish, which it takes by night. 
Those that I opened had a large expansion of the gullet 
immediately under the bill, that narrowed from thence 
to the stomach, which is a large oblong pouch, and was 
filled with fish. The teeth of the pectinated claw were 
