LITTLE B.
F ema l e .
D e SCRIPTION»
P lace and
M anne r s»
2$. 4- MINUTE B.
D e s c r i p t io n »
Ardea minuta, Lin. Syji. i. p. 240. 26.
Le Blongios tacheté, Brif. Orn. v. p. 497. ty.— Buf. Oif. vii. p. 39;.:
Little Brown Bittern, Édw. pi. 27;.
Ç JIZE of the former. The crown blackifh green : the feathery
on the upper part of the body brown, margined with pale
rufous; beneath, the fame, but paler, and the feathers more
deeply margined with rufous : forehead edged with chefnut the
feathers on the fore part of the neck long, as in the other : belly
white : tail blackifh green, margined with fulvous at the ends :
legs greenilh.
This and the former are by moft authors confidered as'the
fame fpecies, of which the laft is fuppofed to be the female.
They have been found frequently in Switzerland, and met with
alfo in Arabia, but fcarce in other parts. We learn in the Bri-
tijh Zoology, that the male has been onee lhot, perched on one
of the trees of the public walks in Shrewjbury ; and another killed
in 1773, near Chriftchurcb in Hampjhire, now in the Mujeum of
Mr. Tunjlall. In Frame they are likewife rare,; only now and
then one being met with by accident. We are told that they
are common on the river Coh, near Aleppo ; and that they are observed
frequently to Hand with the neck ftretched lirait upwards
*.
g lZ E o f a Thrujh in the body: length eleven inches and a half.
Bill two inches long, greenilh, with a pale point: irides ltraw-
Shaw»
colour i
colour: crown of the head dark rufous chefnut: fides of the
neck rufous; the feathers pretty long, and meeting behind, where
it is nearly bare : chin and fore.part of the neck white, with a
feries of feathers on each fide the white, of a pale ferruginous
colour; each feather marked with a blackifh line down the fhaft:
on the lower part of the neck the feathers are long and lcrofe;
fome of them nearly white, and hang over the breaft, which is
brownifh black, this colour palling upwards on each fide as a
crefcent to the back; but the feathers on each fide have whitifh
margins ; the back is rufous chefnut, with pale yellow margins :
the firft and third order of wing coverts like the back, but plain ;
the middle ones ferruginous, with a dufky line down each fhaft:
quills black; fome of the inner prime ones marked with chefnut
at the tips; fecondaries the fame, with, fome few of them wholly
chefnut: belly, thighs, and vent, white: tail black: legs green,
bare for three quarters of an inch above the knee.
Inhabits Jamaica, where it is a rare bird.
Le petit Butor du Senegal, Buf. Oif. vii. p. 426.
Petit Heron roux du Senegal, PI. Enl. 315.
T ENGTH twelve inches. Bill rufous brown, yellow beneath:
upper part of the head, neck, and back, rufous: fore part of
the neck the fame, but very pale, and each feather marked with
a black ftreak down the fhaft; but the loofe feathers which hang
over the breaft are plain, and darker than the reft: down the
middle of the wing, from the fhoulder, reddifh ; the reft of the
wing, without and within, white; but fome of the inner quills are
K 2 the
P lace;
29.
SENEGAL B.
D escrip tion.