182 ARDEID. 
(Ferrari-Perez +), Tehuantepec 1° (Sumichrast); Guatemaua (Constancia®), Lake 
of Duefias (0. 8.818), Coban (0. 8.8), Atitlan (Richardson *); Panama, Lion 
Hill Station (/‘Leannan® 1°).—West Inoviks ¥°. 
The Least Bittern of North America represents the Little Bittern (A. minuta) of 
Europe. It is recorded as a resident in many parts of Canada, and is found in suitable 
localities throughout the whole of the United States. A. exilis probably breeds in 
Central America, as the young birds obtained by us in Guatemala in September had 
no doubt been reared in that country, since we procured both adult and immature 
examples. The species nests in Cuba and probably also in Jamaica, but occurs on the 
Bermudas only during migration, and doubtless many individuals visit Central America 
in the winter season. 
The fact that A. evilis is a migrant proves, as Dr. Brewer has pointed out, that the bird 
must possess some strong powers of flight; but, as a rule, it is not easily flushed, and 
prefers to save itself by running through the tangled rushes and herbage which surround 
its favourite haunts. Through these the bird threads its way with ease, and is also 
equally at home among the sedges or the twigs of trees overhanging the water, and 
though of a sluggish disposition during the day, it is active enough at night. This 
small Bittern appears to be less fond of fish than the larger kinds of Herons, its food 
consisting of snails, small frogs and lizards, with occasionally small rodents. 
The nest is a frail structure of dry reeds, placed at a foot or two above the water 
and supported by the surrounding rushes. The eggs are from four to seven in number, 
white, slightly tinged with green. 
BOTAURUS. 
Botaurus, Briss. Orn. v. p. 444 (1760) ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxvi. p. 59 (1898). 
The members of the genus Botaurus are large birds, remarkable for their mottled 
plumage and for the large frill which envelops each side of the neck. The bill is 
serrated, and the culmen is about the same length as the inner toe and claw. The 
middle toe is long, exceeding, with its claw, the length of the tarsus. The hind claw 
is very strong and greatly developed, being nearly equal to the hind toe itself in length. 
Five species of Bitterns are known, of which two are strictly American, both occurring 
within our limits. 
1. Botaurus lentiginosus. 
Ardea lentiginosus, Montagu, Orn. Dict. Suppl.’ 
Botaurus lentiginosus, Stephens, in Shaw’s Gen. Zool. xi. pt. 2, p. 596, t. 46°; Scl. P. Z. S. 1856, 
p- 810°; 1859, p. 369°; Salv. Ibis, 1860, p. 194°; 1866, p. 196°; Lawr. Ann. Lyc. N.Y. 
vil, p. 4787; Ferrari-Perez, Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus. ix. p. 170°; Jouy, Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus. 
