74 HERONS, EGRETS, BITTERNS 



not be discovered. Standing in the high grass or rushes, at your 

 step he points his bill to the sky as if turned to stone, his striped 

 coat harmonizing so well with the straight lines of the surrounding 

 vegetation that he is often passed by for a stick. His throat is 

 his most protectively colored part, and it is said that if you walk 

 around him he will turn as you do, so as to keep facing you. If 

 discovered and flushed he will jump into the air with awkward 

 haste and sometimes a startled squack. His flight would be heron- 

 like but for the quicker strokes given by his smaller wings. 



Vernon Bailey. 



GENUS ARDETTA. 



191. Ardetta exilis (GmeL). Least Bittern. 



Size very small, sexes and young- different. Adult male : back, crown, 

 rump, and tail greenish black ; back of neck and patch on wing- chestnut ; 

 throat and under parts light buff, with two dusky spots on breast. Adult 

 female : back mainly chestnut, and buff of under parts striped with dusky. 

 Young : like female, but brown feathers of back tipped with buff. Length : 

 12.00-14.25, wing 4.30-5.25, bill 1.00-1.90, tarsus 1.50-1.75. 



Distribution. — Temperate North America, north to southern Oregon 

 and the British Provinces, and sovitli to the West Indies and Brazil. 



Nest. — Usually in tall grass or rushes, a little above the ground or water, 

 made of grass and rush stems. Eggs : 3 to 6, bluish white. 



The slender, dainty least bittern is mainly a bird of the marshes. 

 Like the bittern, it avoids the trouble of flying whenever it can by 

 making a bold bluff, and when it strikes its attitude may easily be 

 mistaken for one of the yellow tule stems or dry cat-tails. Some- 

 times it eludes you by stealthy retreat, for it is almost rail-like in 

 its manner of creeping under the grass and rushes. When the water 

 is too deep to wade in, it walks by grasping the protruding stems. 



Vernon Bailey. 



GENUS ARDEA. 



General Characters. — Legs and neck long and slender ; bill slender, 

 straight, and sharp ; crown, throat, or back with plumes or crests in 

 adults. 



KEY TO SPECIES. 



1. Plumage entirely white. 



2. Adult with long plumes on back only egretta, p. 75. 



2'. Adult with long plumes on crown, neck, and back. 



candidissima, p. 75. 

 1 '. Plumage mainly blue, or brown and green ; sometimes wliite in ccerulea. 

 2. Color mainly bluish gray or slaty. 

 8. Size large, wing over 17. 



4. Lighter, upper parts bluish gray .... herodias, p. 75. 



4'. Darker, upper parts slaty f aiiiiini, p. 75. 



3'. Size small, wing under 11 ; young, and sometimes adults, white. 



caerulea, p. 70. 



