398 THE LEAST BITTERN. 



shallow water again, and walks along sedately, throwing its 

 head forward at each step ''as if about to thrust its sharp 

 bill into some substance." It is a Least Bittern {Ardetta 

 exilis). About a foot long or more, wings only 4-5 inches, 

 the male, which is slightly crested, has the crown and back 

 glossy greenish-black; hind neck, greater wing-coverts, and 

 outer webs of secondaries, bright chestnut; lesser wing- 

 coverts and sides of the neck, brownish-yellow; fore-neck 

 and under parts, light-yellow or yellowish- white; eyes, bill, 

 and feet, yellow. The female has the crown and back brown 

 and the fore neck and breast streaked with brown and 

 brownish-yellow. Otherwise, she is like the male. Like the 

 Com.mon Bittern, they have long feathers on the breast, but 

 do not have the long, narrow feathers on the back, after the 

 manner of the Herons. This is the diminutive or pigmy of 

 its race, having indeed the form of a Heron, but to some 

 extent the habits of a Rail. So narrowly can it compress 

 its body, that it has been made to .walk between two books 

 set on edge, only an inch apart. On startling it I see that 

 its flight is similar to that of the Common Bittern, and like 

 the Herons in general, when it rises high for a long pull, it 

 folds its neck upon its breast and stretches its long legs out 

 straight behind. Like the rest of the Herons, too, its note 

 is a sort of qua, and its food such reptiles, insects and fishes 

 as are found in its habitat and come within its capacity. 

 It breeds rather commonly in the marshes of this locality, 

 generally nesting on some pile of matted sedges, but some- 

 times tying its nest in a bush or clump of cat-tails or sedges, 

 some 18 inches or more from the ground. The nest is flat- 

 tish and rather roughly laid of sedges, dried grasses and 

 debris, containing from three to five eggs, elliptical, about 

 1.22 X 1.93, white, delicately tinged with green. The eggs 

 may be found late in May or early in June, and there is very 



