In each specimen that I dissected, the stomach was enormous, occupying the whole length and breadth of the body; it usually is found distended with the larvæ of _libelluladæ_ and _dyticidæ_, and with freshwater prawns. The latter lie in the stomach always in the same way; viz. doubled up, the head and tail pointing forwards, the only way in which they could be swallowed with safety. In all the _Ardeadæ_ that I have examined, there are on the breast two masses of filamentous down, commonly of a pale buff hue, lying just over the furcula; beneath which, attached to the inner surface of the skin, are two flat glandular bodies of singular appearance. A similar tuft and structure are found just above the tail. With their object I am quite unacquainted. LITTLE YELLOW BITTERN.[103] _Tortoiseshell-bird._ _Ardeola exilis._ _Ardea exilis_, +Gmel.+—Aud. pl. 210. _Ardeola exilis_, +Bonap.+ [103] Length 13¹⁄₄ inches, expanse 16¹⁄₄, flexure 4¹⁄₂, tail 1¹⁄₂, rictus 2¹⁄₄, neck 6, tarsus 1⁶⁄₁₀, middle toe 1³⁄₄. Intestine 41, body 2¹⁄₂. This minute Heron is not unfrequently seen dodging about the edges of the tall reeds that clothe the morasses, or among the rank sedgy grass that borders the streams. If alarmed it does not usually fly, but darts into the rushy cover, where the thinness of its form enables it to make its way with ease. Frequently it crouches, as if hoping to lie unobserved. The stomachs of several that I have dissected contained small fishes and Crustacea. QUOK.[104] _Night-heron or Qua-bird._—+Wils.+ _Nycticorax Americanus._ _Ardea nycticorax_, +Linn.+—Aud. pl. 236. ? _Ardea violacea_ (_immature_), Ibid. _Nycticorax Americanus_, +Steph.+ [104] Length 24 inches, expanse 41¹⁄₂, flexure 12, tail 4³⁄₄, rictus 3⁵⁄₈, tarsus 4¹⁄₄, middle toe 2³⁄₄. A male, immature; occipital plumes 3¹⁄₂ inches long. I have not seen the adult.