264 



KEY AND DESCRIPTION 



B. Bill over a half inch shorter than the tarsus ; top and bottom of bill 



decidedly convex. i 14. Yellow-crowned Night Heron. 



C. Wing, 17-22 long ; plumage pure white 



4. Great White Heron. 



C. Wing, 17-21 long ; upper part grayish or shUy-bluc . . . 



5. Ward's Heron or 0. Great Blue Heron. i 



C. Wing, 14-17 long ; plumage pure white 7. American Egret. 



C. Wing, 11-14 long ; plumage mostly white or slate colored 



9. Reddish Egret. 



C. Wing under 11 long. (D.) 



D. Wing, 6-8 long ; back with much green or greenish 



12. Green Heron. 



D. Wing, 8-11 long. (E.) 



E. Plumage pure white 8. Snowy Heron (and young of No. 11). 



E. Wing coverts more or less margined with rusty 



10. Louisiana Heron. 



E. Wing coverts without rusty margins 11. Little Blue Heron. 



1. American Bittern (190. Botaunis leyitigindsus). — A very 

 common, lavt^e, solitary, retiring, grassy-mar.sh-living, stout- 

 billed, butt'y anil brown, mottled, heron-like bird, with many 



elongated, loose feathers on the 

 crown and lower neck. There 

 is a velvety black streak on the 

 side of the neck. This bird 

 makes a note which sounds like 

 driving a stake with a mallet, 

 or at other times like the work- 

 ing of an old wooden pump. 

 This "booming" can be heard 

 a long di.stance, and during its 

 progress the bird exhibits most 

 amazing contortions of its body. 

 Tt is noted for its ability to stand 

 in one position for an iudetinite 

 period, though the other mem- 

 bers of the family are also good 

 at "tableaux vivants." (Stake-driver; Marsh Hen; Bog-bull.) 

 Length, 24-.'54 ; wing, 10^ (9i-12|) ; tail, 4; tarsu.s, 3J ; culmen, 3. 

 Temperate North America; breeding mainly north of the Carolinas, and 

 whitering from Virginia southward to Central America. 



American Bittern 



