neck at the bottom, and the hack, rich buff-colour; inter-
scapulars reddish-brown; the feathers of the back elongated;
the webs disunited, each filament having the appearance of
a single hair, from which circumstance the term comata,—
hairy—has been applied to i t ; the colour a pale reddish-
brown in those upon the surface, passing into a delicate buff-
colour in those underneath ; the wings white, the ends of
some of the coverts and tertials being tinged with buff;
rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail-feathers, white ; chin,
throat, belly, under surface of the wings, the axillary plume,
vent, and under-surface of the tail-feathers, pure white ; legs
yellowish-pink ; toes yellow underneath ; claws black. The
breeding-plumage is sometimes not attained until late; birds
shot by the Editor in Andalucia up to the 21st May being
still very ragged about the neck.
The whole length, from the point of the beak to the end
of the tail, is about nineteen inches ; from the carpal joint
to the end of the wing, nine inches.
The sexes resemble each other at the same age, but the
plumes are more developed in the male.
In the immature plumage, which is the more frequently
seen in this country, the descending dusky-grey streaks on
the feathers of the neck are longer and broader, and the
lighter ground-colour is mixed with ashy-brown ; the wing-
coverts are tinged with buff; the back, and the ends of the
tertials, are wood-brown ; and the younger the specimen, the
darker are the feathers along the middle line of the back.
A nestling from Astrachan, belonging to Mr. E. Bidwell,
is covered with down of a dull buff-colour on the upper parts,
and of a dirty white below.
N ycticorax g r is e u s (L in n a e u s * ) .
THE NIGHT-HERON.
Nycticorax Gardeni.
Nvcticorax, Stephensf .—Beak about the same length as the head, bulky,
strong, broad, and dilated at the base ; upper mandible slightly bending and
curved at the point ; under mandible straight. Nostrils, longitudinal, lateral,
but little in advance of the base of the beak, naked, placed in a groove, and
partly covered by a naked membrane ; lore and orbits naked. Legs of moderate
length, naked for a short distance above the tarsal joint ; tarsus longer than the
middle too : its scutellse hexagonal in front; the outer and middle toe united
by a membrane ; claws short; that of the middle toe pectinated. Tail of twelve
broad and moderately hard feathers
* Ardea grisea, Linneeus, Syst. Nat. El. 12, i. p. 239 (1766).
t Shaw’s General Zoology, xi. p. 608 (1819).