Ardetta eurhythma Swinhoe, Ibis (1873), 74, pl. 2; Meyer and
Wiglesworth, Birds of Celebes (1898), 2, 856, pl. 45.
Nannocnus eurythmus Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1898), 26,
242; Hand-List (1899), 1, 203; Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902),
2, 133; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 35.
Mindanao (Bourns & Worcester); Negros (Keay). Eastern Siberia,
China, Japan, Borneo, Celebes.
"Adult male.--Above chestnut-brown; lesser wing-coverts and feathers
round bend of wing also chestnut-brown; alula-feathers chestnut,
outer ones blackish internally, with white on the outer margins;
remainder of wing-coverts olive-clay-color, ashy near the ends of
the feathers, innermost greater-coverts chestnut like scapulars;
innermost secondaries also washed with chestnut, remainder of quills
and primary-coverts ashy brown, paler at the tips, which are fringed
with whitish, the first primary margined with ocherous; tail dark
brown; crown and nape dusky brown; sides of face, ear-coverts, and
neck-frill maroon; a broad band of white running from the middle
of the cheeks down the sides of the neck; fore part of cheeks,
throat, and under surface of body ocherous-buff; under tail-coverts,
under wing-coverts, and axillars white; on the throat some slight
indications of longitudinal dusky spots; feathers of the fore neck
elongated; on each side of chest a patch of black feathers with
ocherous margins. 'Bill blackish brown on culmen, yellowish brown
on the rest, darker on the sides of upper mandible near tomia,
light on sides of lower and on gonys; cere and bare skin round eye
purplish flesh-color, ringed with green; legs and toes grass-green,
yellow near the tarso-tibial joint and on the under surface of
the tarsus; soles clay-colored; claws light yellowish brown; iris
straw-color.' (Swinhoe.) Length, 305; culmen, 50; wing, 150; tail,
39; tarsus, 51.
"Adult female.--Different from the male. Dusky reddish brown,
spotted all over with ocherous-buff, the feathers externally spotted
or notched with this color; wing-coverts like the back, but largely
edged and spotted with ocherous; head like the back; sides of face
dull chestnut, with a band of white from the hinder cheeks down the
sides of the neck; under surface of body ocherous-buff, plentifully
streaked with blackish brown, tinged with rufous; the lower abdomen
and under tail-coverts whiter; under wing-coverts deep ocherous, with
ashy bases; a patch of brown feathers at the sides of the breast,
all edged with ocherous. Length, 305; culmen, 49; wing, 140; tail,
29; tarsus, 48.
"Young.--Like the old female, but blackish brown above, the
wing-coverts maroon-chestnut, and all the upper parts spotted
with white instead of ocherous. 'Bill bright yellow, tinged
with green; culmen black; feet yellowish green; iris golden
yellow.' (Everett.)" (Sharpe.)
"A single specimen secured by us while with the Steere Expedition
has been identified by Grant as Ardetta eurythma." (Bourns and
Worcester MS.)
Genus DUPETOR Heine and Reichenbach, 1890.
This genus appears to be very near Ixobrychus but it may be recognized
by the blackish or slate-colored upper parts.