jSTIGHT herok. 
99 
The food of the Night Heron consists of fish, reptiles, any 
small animals, leeches, worms, and the larger water insects. 
The prey is swallowed whole. 
The note is hoarse and hollow, resembling the syllable 
‘qua,’ from whence, in America, the name given to the species 
of Qua Bird. Meyer describes the note as sounding like the 
word ‘cowow,’ 
These birds form heronries, either, according to Audubon, 
near plantations, or the interior of retired and secluded 
swamps, as well as on some of the sea islands covered with 
evergreen trees. These are formed in low bushes, or in 
middle-sized or tall trees, as seems most convenient or secure. 
In some places the nests are placed within a few yards of 
the ground, many on the branches, others between the 
diverging boughs of the trees; in others at the tops of the 
trees, at an elevation of not much more than twenty feet; 
and in others again in tall cypresses, at a height of a hun¬ 
dred feet, or thereabouts. Hundreds may be seen at once in 
those countries where the birds live. These remarks however, 
it is to be observed, apply to the American birds. The nest 
is fabricated of sticks, and is large in size and flat in shape; 
it is lined with reeds, rushes, grass, and leaves. 
The eggs are commonly four in number, sometimes five, 
and of a pale greenish blue colour. Selby says, ‘as soon as 
the young have gained sufficient strength, they climb to the 
top of the trees, where they are fed by the parents till they 
are able to fly, and support themselves.’ 
The young, in their very different livery, have been 
described as a different species. 
Male; length, from about twenty-two inches and a quarter, 
to twenty-three inches; bill, black, inclining to yellow at the 
base, a white line extends from it over the eye; iris, deep 
reddish orange; the eyelids, greenish or bluish white. Fore¬ 
head, white; crown, black with green reflections; neck on the 
sides, tinged with grey, on the back, and the nape, black 
with green reflections: from the head springs an occipital 
plume of feathers, generally three, but sometimes four in 
number. They are concave beneath, the one fitting within 
the other, so as to appear like a single plume; this the bird 
has the power of raising or depressing according as it is 
alarmed or irritated, or at rest; and thus they ‘part to meet 
again:’ the upper one is the longest, sometimes measuring 
about eight inches in length; they are tipped or not with 
