inner side, save in _Balaeniceps_. The wing is somewhat rounded, yet long, and has eleven primaries–reduced to ten in _Scopus_–and from eleven to eighteen secondaries; the fairly even tail is short or moderate, with from ten to twelve broad stiffish feathers, except in _Botaurus_ and _Ardetta_, where the ten rectrices are soft and abbreviated. The tongue is usually long and pointed, but in _Cancroma_, _Balaeniceps_, and _Scopus_ it is very short; the lores and orbits are naked, save in _Scopus_, as is the malar region in _Tigrornis_ and _Tigrisoma_, while the last at times has the throat bare, or merely feathered centrally. The nostrils are impervious only in _Cancroma_ and _Balaeniceps_. The nestlings are uniformly covered with sparse hair-like down. The state of the chick is unrecorded in _Balaeniceps_ and _Scopus_. The furcula is generally V-shaped, the syrinx is tracheo-bronchial, and an aftershaft is present, the latter and the syringeal muscles being much reduced in _Balaeniceps_. Crests and decorative plumes are common, as will be seen below. Of especial importance are the large, thick, "powder-down patches," or greasy yellow spaces covered with tufts of grey or black filaments, disintegrating into bluish or whitish powder. _Balaeniceps_ has a big pair on the lower back, _Botaurus_ and _Ardetta_ an additional couple on the breast, and the remainder of the Ardeidae two more on the abdomen, except _Cancroma_ which possesses still another pair on the upper back. In _Scopus_ they are absent. The use is uncertain, and the occurrence quite irregular.