Ardea javanica Horsfield, Trans. Linn. Soc. (1821), 13, pt. 1, 190.
Butorides javanica Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1898), 26, 177;
Hand-List (1899), 1, 199; Blanford, Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1898),
4, 395, fig. 95 (head); McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List
(1906), 34.
Ba-caú i-tim', Manila.
Bongao (Everett); Cagayancillo (McGregor); Calamianes (Bourns &
Worcester); Cebu (Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Cuyo
(McGregor); Dinagat (Everett); Guimaras (Steere Exp.); Leyte
(Everett); Lubang (McGregor); Luzon (Jagor, Everett, Bourns &
Worcester, Whitehead, McGregor); Marinduque (Steere Exp.);
Masbate (Bourns & Worcester); Mindanao (Everett, Steere Exp.,
Bourns & Worcester, Goodfellow, Celestino); Mindoro (Bourns &
Worcester, Everett, McGregor); Negros (Layard, Steere, Bourns &
Worcester, Keay); Nipa (Everett); Palawan (Platen, Whitehead,
Bourns & Worcester); Panay (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester);
Romblon (McGregor); Samar (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester);
Semirara (Worcester); Sibuyan (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor);
Siquijor (Bourns & Worcester); Sulu (Guillemard); Tablas
(Bourns & Worcester); Tawi Tawi (Bourns & Worcester); Ticao
(McGregor). Southern China, Malay and Indian Peninsulas, Celebes,
Ceylon, Mascarene and Greater Sunda Islands.
"Adult male.--Above light slaty gray, feathers of back with hoary,
white shaft-lines; long scapular-feathers green, or green with gray
tips; wing-coverts and quills dark green with ocherous-buff margins,
inclining to white on the edges of the greater-coverts and secondaries,
most of the quills being fringed with white at the ends; lower back,
rump, and upper tail-coverts dull green, more or less powdered with
gray; tail dull green; crown dark glossy green, with the nape feathers
produced into a point; hind neck and sides of neck gray, extending over
the sides of face and ear-coverts; below the eye a streak of greenish
black extending along the ear-coverts, along the upper part of which
runs a whitish streak from behind the eye to the level of the nape;
another streak of white from the base of the lower mandible along the
cheeks; throat, fore neck, and abdomen white; sides of body and flanks,
including the overhanging feathers on the sides of the upper breast,
slaty gray like the sides of the neck, leaving the center of throat
and fore neck white, slightly varied with dingy brown markings,
these markings being on the edges of the throat-feathers; axillars
and under wing-coverts gray, like the quill-lining. 'Upper mandible
black, with a longitudinal yellow streak along the margin below the
nostrils; grape greenish brown; lower mandible greenish yellow, more
or less black along the edges; facial skin green; legs and toes green,
front of tarsus and toes dusky, soles orange, and claws horn-color;
iris yellow.' (Oates.) Length, 483; culmen, 70; wing, 178; tail, 63;
tarsus, 51; middle toe with claw, 53.
"Adult female.--Exactly like the male, but a trifle more dingy,
especially in the throat markings, where the brown is a little more
distinct on the margins of the feathers. Length, 457; culmen, 61;
wing, 173; tail, 70; tarsus, 46; middle toe with claw, 51.
"Winter plumage.--Duller than in summer and much greener above,
without any gray shading; the head green.
"Young.--Brown above; the wing-coverts with triangular whitish or
sandy-buff spots at their ends; head black, streaked with ocherous-buff
shaft-lines; sides of face and under surface of body whitish, strongly
streaked with dusky-blackish margins to the feathers.
"The young bird is browner than the adults, with white mesial streaks
on the wing-coverts; crown of head dusky black; under surface of body
less gray and washed with brown." (Sharpe.)
"Extremely common. Found both along the seashore and about fresh-water
streams and lakes." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)