38(5 AMERICAN BITTERN. 



There can be little doubt that many, and probably most of our visitors, 

 have been aided on their passage by being able to rest on the yards 

 of vessels ; especially on those of steamers, the square-sails of which 

 are seldom set, so that a bird might easily remain, unobserved and 

 undisturbed, by day as well as by night, while each twenty-four hours 

 would find it, even on cargo-boats, some 300 miles further on its 

 way across. It could probably exist without food for far longer than 

 is necessary for such a transit ; moreover, if hungry, or dislodged 

 from its ship, its long slender feet would enable it to alight on 

 patches of sargasso and other masses of floating sea-weeds found on 

 the line of the Gulf Stream, and among these it would find small 

 fish, crustaceans, and other sustenance, until another vessel passed 

 by. Doubtless numbers perish for one that reaches our shores. 



An exhausted example of this species was captured by dogs at 

 Egedesminde in Greenland, in 1S69 ; and in America its range on 

 the MacKenzie River extends to the Arctic Ocean, though the bird 

 is probably rare so far north. South of the 58th parallel in the 

 Fur-countries, it is found, as a breeding-species, down to Texas ; 

 while on its extended and bold autumnal migration it is a regular 

 and sometimes an abundant visitor to the Bermudas, where it also 

 occurs, though with less frequency, on its passage northward in 

 March. In winter it visits the West Indian Islands and Guatemala. 



When situated on dry ground, the nest is a very slight structure of 

 reeds and grass ; but in places liable to inundations it is sometimes 

 considerably elevated. The eggs, 4-7 in number, are equally 

 obtuse at either end, and are of a uniforni drab colour : measure- 

 ments I "9 by I "45 in. This Bittern usually feeds on frogs, lizards, 

 and small mammals, but it is almost omnivorous. The note of the 

 male in the early part of the breeding-season is a deep choking 

 croak, resembling the noise made by driving a stake in boggy soil, 

 whence its common name of " Stake-" or " Post-driver." 



This species resembles our Old A\'orld bird in general plumage, 

 but is smaller in size ; its bill, legs and feet are more slender ; the 

 feathers of the upper parts are more finely vermiculated ; and the 

 primaries are uniform leaden-hrozvn. Length about 24 in. ; wing 

 1 1 in. The young have a ruddier tinge and coarser mottlings. 



A specimen of the American Buiorides viresce?is, said to have 

 been shot in Cornwall in October 1889, was exhibited at the 

 Linnean Society in April 1890, by Sir C. Sawle {Cf. Zool. 1890, 

 p. 105 and p. 181). 



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