ARDEID.E — BOTA UllIN^E : BI TTERNS. 



883 



p. 295 : Reichenbach's iiaine being iuadinissible, as autedated by Nycterodius Macg. Man. 

 Orn. ii, 1842, p. 126, type Ardea ni/cticorax Linn. As subgenus oi Nycticorax iu A. 0. U. 

 List, 2d ed. 1895. 



N. viola'cea. (Lat. violacea, violet-colured : straining a point. Fig. GIG.) Yellow- 

 CROWNED Night Heron. Adult (? 9 in breeding plumage : General color grayish-plumbeous, 

 or liglit grayish-blue, darker on back, where the feathers have black centres and pale edges, and 

 I'ather paler below. Head and upper neck beliind black, with cheek-patch, crown, and most 

 of crest, white, more or less tinged with tawny. Quills and tail dusky plumbeous. Bill black ; 

 €yes orange ; lores greenish ; feet black and yellow. Length about 24.00 ; extent 44.00 ; wing 

 12.00; tail 5.00; bill scarcely 3.00, over 0.50 deep at base; tibiae bare 2.00; tarsus 4.00; 

 middle toe and claw 2.75. Young : Above, grayish-brown, with an olive shade, streaked and 

 spotted with brownish-yellow; below, streaked with brown and whitish; sides of head and 

 neck yellowisli-brown, streaked with darker ; top of head and neck above behind blackish, 

 variegated with white. Bill blackish, with much of lower mandible, and lores, greenish- 

 yellow ; legs the same, obscured on front of tarsus ; iris yellow. Chiefly S. Atlantic and Gulf 

 States, and S. to West Indies, Central and northern South America, occasionally N. to the 

 Middle States, rarely to New England, casually even to Nova Scotia ; not abundant, and chiefly 

 confined to the coast, but regularly up the Mississippi valley to the Ohio ; Colorado casually ; 

 Lower California ; resident in Florida. Nest as usual in trees or bushes ; eggs 3-4-5-(i, pale 

 greenish-blue, 2.00 X 1-45. 



Subfamily BOTAURIN/E : Bitterns. 



Tail-feathers 10, broad and S(jft. Powder-down tracts 2 ])airs. Bill with tomia some- 

 what serrate. Outer toe sliorter than inner. Claws long and little curved. No special plumes 

 in the breeding seascm ; no dichromatism ; plumage never white; adults and young alike. 



Fio. 017. — I'.ill of Bittern, nat. size. (Ad. nat. del. E. C ) 



Bitterns form a well-marked sul)family of Ardeidcc. Tliey are retiring antl siditary birds of the 

 marsh, not gregarious, not nesting in communities on trees, but by separate pairs, on the 

 ground ; the eggs have not the characteristic cidor of those of true Herons. There is some- 

 thiuir about Bitterns suggestive of Rails. The genera are several, and tlie species numerous ; 

 ours arc excellent repri'smtatives of the subfamily. 



Analysis of Genera. 



Large ; win(j over 9.00. Plumage freckled ; gexe.t and ageB alike Bolaurus 



Very small ; wing under 0. (Ml. Plumage parti colored ; aexes distinguishable Arileita 



HOTAU'RUS. (Mid. Lat. hiitdiiiis. New Lat. Iiotditnis, a bittern. api'Ii.,! by Pliny to the 

 ljn<)|icaii species: erroneously saiil to l>r eijual to bos, us, + tii ii nis, huW; but an onomato- 

 pa-ia, from the hoUow guttural cry.) Bittekn.s. Of medium size: length about 2^ feet. 



