HERONS, EGRETS, BITTERNS 



73 



2. Bill long- and slender, five times as long as depth at base. 



Ardea, p. 74. 

 2'. Bill short and stout, less than four times as long- as depth at base. 



Nycticorax, p. 77. 



GENUS BOTAURUS. 



190. Botaurus lentiginosus (Montag.). AMERICAN BITTERN. 

 Sexes alike and young very similar to adults ; feathers lax and coarse ; 



Fig. 84. 



upper parts broadly sti-iped with dusky on buff ; crown and streak along 

 jaw blackish ; throat and under parts creamy buff, striped with brown. 

 Length : 24-34, wing 9.80-12.00, bill 2.50-3.20, 

 tarsus 3.10-3.85. 



Distribution. Temperate North America, 

 and south to Guatemala, breeding in suitable loca- 

 tions over most of the United States. 



Nest. On the ground, usually in marshes ; 

 made of stems of grass, rushes, weeds, or sticks. 

 Eggs : 3 to 6, brownish drab. 



Over most of the United States the boom- 

 ing of the bittern is a familiar sound from 

 the marshes. The deep ump-up, ump-up, 



ump-up, has suggested such names as prairie pump, thunder pumper, 

 and stake driver, and the gurgling tone has very naturally led to 

 the belief that the call was produced with the bill under water. In 

 reality it is the love-song and call-note of the breeding season, pro- 

 duced by inflating the throat and emitting the air with a gulping 

 motion and the familiar booming sound. The skin of the neck 

 becomes much thickened and of a gelatinous texture, as in the necks 

 of the various grouse that boom, so that it serves as an elastic bel- 

 lows. On a still spring morning the sound carries far over the 

 marshes and to human ears gives little clue to distance or direction. 

 But its ventriloquism is not the bittern's only protection. If the 

 sound is successfully followed up and the bird actually seen, he may 



