68 The Ottawa Naturalist, [June 



W. Cross, the writer of the article, says ; " On May the iSth, 

 1890, a very interesting capture was made on Toronto Island, and 

 I afterwards received the bird. It was a small bittern with all the 

 colouring- very dark and blended with rich chestnut-brown on the 

 back. It was so unlike any other Least Bittern that I had pre- 

 viously seen that I put it down as a new bird, and soon identified 

 it as Cory's Least Bittern. It is a resident of Florida and Mexico, 

 and is supposed to have wandered here with our Botaurus exilis 

 during the spring migration." This bird was a female, and Mr. 

 Cross presented it to the Canadian Institute, where, after being 

 mounted, it now remains. A second specimen of this interesting 

 species was taken on May 20th, 1893, ^"'^' ^ report of this capture 

 by Mr. H. Brown was published in the Auk. The specimen was 

 sent for examination to Mr. Wm. Brewster, a distinguished 

 American ornithologist, who wrote regarding it : "It agrees 

 very closely with a skin taken at Lake Flirt in 1892. The 

 Toronto bird is a trifle darker on the back, and the chestnut of 

 its under parts is slightly richer, but in other respects the two 

 specimens are exactly alike. It, also, is a female." On May 

 26th, 1894, a third specimen was shot at Ashbridge Bay, Toronto, 

 by a Mr, Jacobs, who flushed it with a B. exilis from a clump of 

 reeds. Both birds were secured and found to be males. On com- 

 paring the three specimens it was found that the one shot in the 

 summer of 1893 ^^^ identical with the one obtained in 1894, with 

 the exception of the wing coverts, which are a little darker. The 

 female shot in 1893 is black on the crown only, the back of 

 the neck is a dark rufous-chestnut, the back is black with a decided 

 brownish shade, not green as the other two; the remainder of the 

 colours correspond with the exception of one or two white feathers 

 on the legs. It is interesting to know that up to that date this 

 Toronto specimen was the ninth known in collections. Mr. Charles 

 Pickering captured another specimen of this species on the 15th 

 of July, 1894, and has written the following interesting account 

 regarding that event : " While going through Toronto marsh I 

 had the good fortune to find a Cory's Bittern. It was a little east 

 of the south end, and was just in the act of lighting a little behind 

 me when I caught sight of it ; I thought at first that it was a 

 Virginian Rail, but on the second sight its long legs showed 



