1 82 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



or breast, which appear to be always concealed, 

 except when the birds are performing their mat- 

 ing antics, when a plume is raised on each side 

 high above the shoulder and becomes conspicuous 

 against the darker plumage of the upper parts. 

 The young — helpless, homely, and awkward — 

 are exposed to many dangers in their lowly nest. 

 Minks, muskrats and water snakes roam about 



them ; keen-sighted Hawks, Eagles, and Owls 

 sweep over the marsh ; but the watchful mother 

 is ever ready to defend them, and with her 

 dagger-like bill and long neck she is no mean 

 antagonist. When danger threatens she bristle; 

 to twice her usual size and with glaring eyes and 

 ready, open beak becomes a dauntless defender. 

 Edward Howe Forbush. 



LEAST BITTERN 



Ixobrychus exilis (Giiiclin) 



Other Names. 



Heron. 



General Description. — Lenptl 

 Color above, greenish-black; belo 



A. O U. Xumber 191 

 Dwarf Bittern ; Little Bittern ; Least 



: I to 14 inches, 

 brownish-vellow. 



Color. — Adult Male: Crown, back, and tail, glossy 

 greenish-black; a streak down back of neck; most of 

 wing-coverts, and outer edges of inner secondaries, pure 

 chestnut; other wing-coverts, brownish-yellow; pri- 

 maries, dusky, tipped with chestnut; front and sides of 

 neck and under parts in general, brownish-yellow ; 



Phuto by A. A. Allen 



LEAST BITTERN 

 On its nest in the marsh 



See Color Plate 23 



white streaks along throat line; sides of breast with 

 a broken brownish-black patch; a whitish streak on 

 upper side of shoulder-feathers; bill, pale yellow with 

 dusky ridge; skin of lores, light green; legs, dull 

 greenish; iris and toes, yellow. Adult Female: Crown, 

 brownish ; back, brownish-chestnut with 2 white streaks 

 along shoulders ; wings, similar, but coverts more spotted 

 with brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Usually in a bunch of cat- 

 tails; a rougli platform of dead reeds, raised above the 

 water on a l)ed of decayed rushes. Eggs: 3 to 6, bluish- 

 white. 



Distribution. — Temperate North America and north- 

 ern South America; breeds from southern Oregon, 

 southern Saskatchewan, southern Manitoba, southern 

 Quebec, and Nova Scotia south to the West Indies and 

 Brazil ; winters from Florida and Gulf of Me.xico 

 southward. 



Reed-grown ponds, grassy margins of lakes, 

 and expanses of fresh-water marshes form the 

 abiding places of the Least Bittern. Only a little 

 over a foot in length, it is the smallest of all our 

 Herons. Because of its retiring habits and 

 secretive disposition it is known to few besides 

 the inquisitive ornithologist, whose enthusiasm 

 for the stibject leads him into the forbidden 

 haunts of the Bittern. Even then it is rarely seen 

 until suddenly it springs from it:; hiding, at times 

 almost beneath your feet, and in an awkward and 

 laborious manner flies away a few rods and 

 drops again into the marsh. More rarely it may 

 be seen clinging to the stem of some rush or reed 

 much in the manner of a Wren. It has not been 

 given to many to hear the soft cooing spring 

 notes of the male, but most summer marsh- 

 waders are familiar with the startled qua with 

 which it begins its flight when disturbed. 



Although the Least Bittern is found in summer 

 as far north as Maine and Manitoba, it i-^ much 

 more abundant in the southern States. A few 

 pass the winter in Florida, but the bulk of these 

 birds migrate farther south. In spring they 

 arrive in the Carolinas and Arkansas bv middle 

 April, and a few weeks later their summer dis- 



