BOTAURUS. 183 
xvi. p. 788°; A. O. U. Check-l. N. Amer. Birds, 2nd ed. p. 70"°; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. 
Mus. xxvi. p. 259”. 
Ardea minor, Wilson, Amer. Orn. viii. p. 35, t. 65. fig. 3”. 
Botaurus minor, Dugés, La Nat. i. p. 142; Lawr. Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. ii. p. 310"; Sumichr. 
La Nat. v. p. 233”. 
Ardea mokoho, Vieill. N. Dict. d’Hist. Nat. xiv. p. 440*°; Wagler, Isis, 1831, p. 5317”. 
Supra rufescens, brunneo vermiculatim fasciatus ; dorso postico et uropygio ochraceis, brunneo vermiculatis ; 
tectricibus alarum quoque ochraceis, sparsim brunneo vermiculatis; remigibus nigricantibus, apicem 
versus rufis nigro vermiculatis; secundariis rufescentibus, dorso concoloribus, et eodem modo vermiculatis; 
pileo nigricante, plumis rufo marginatis; supercilio lato rufo; facie laterali colloque ochraceis; gutture 
albo, fascia mediana lata pallide rufescente, plumis vix nigro fasciolatis, preepectore eodem modo striato ; 
plaga nigra ad latera gule posita; hypochondriis late rufo striatis; abdomine pallidiore ochraceo ; 
axillaribus et subalaribus ochraceis, iis brunneo vermiculatim transfasciatis ; maxilla olivascenti-nigra, 
mandibula pallide flava; pedibus flavicanti-viridibus ; iride pallide flava. Long. tota circa 18°5, ale 10:5, 
caude 3°7, culm. 2°95, tarsi 3-6. (Descr. maris adulti ex Chapulco. Mus. nostr.) 
© haud a mari distinguenda. Long. tota circa 8°5, ale 10°5. (Descr. spec. ex Manitoba. Mus. Brit.) 
Jw. vix ab adultis distinguendus, corpore subtus saturatiore rufo striato, plumis clarius nigro vermiculatis. 
(Deser. exempl. ex Florida. Mus. nostr.) 
Hab. ‘Temperare Nortn America®, north to Manitoba and Columbia !!.—Mexico 
(Wagler\"), Mazatlan (Grayson *), Guanajuato (Dugés 1), Lake Patzcuaro 
(Jouy®), Laguna del Rosario’, Chapulco, Puebla™ (Ferrari-Perez), Valley of 
Mexico, Orizaba (Swmichrast °), Cordova (Sallé*), Jalapa (de Oca*); GUATEMALA, 
Coban °1!, Duefias® (0. 8.) ; Panama (‘Leannan"). 
B. lentiginosus is found over the greater part of the North-American continent in 
localities suited to its habits. It occurs throughout Central America, but apparently 
only in the winter months. Grayson says that at Mazatlan he met with it from 
October to March, but he was not certain of its being a summer resident. 
Like other Bitterns, this is a marsh-loving bird, and is principally nocturnal in its 
habits, uttering a loud booming note like that of its European relative, B. stellaris. 
The food consists of fish, frogs, and lizards, as well as field-mice. 
The nest is described as a rough structure of reeds &c., placed on the ground and 
never in trees or bushes. In some localities it is placed above the level of the earth, 
where there is any danger of the eggs becoming swamped by a rise of water, in 
others no nest at all is made, and the eggs are deposited on the ground among the 
herbage. 
The latter are generally four in number, though occasionally as many as seven, 
according to Capt. Bendire. ‘They are of a brownish-drab colour. 
2. Botaurus pinnatus. 
Ardea pinnata, Wagler, Isis, 1829, p. 663". 
Botaurus pinnatus, Gray, Gen. Birds, iii. p. 557°; Lawr. Ann. Lyc. N. Y. vill. p. 184°; Sharpe, 
Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxvi. p. 262+. 
