FAMILY ARDEIDAE IO5 



throat, is now rare in most parts of mainland Panama; it remains 

 only in sections too remote to be open to casual hunting. In the La 

 Jagua area it is still fairly common as a dozen or more may range in 

 scattered company over marshlands, where tall grass, bushes, and low 

 trees stand in shallow water, or on the open shores adjacent where the 

 birds may walk about. They shelter in swampy woodlands, along the 

 lower courses of the rivers, especially in the taller growths of man- 

 groves. In such localities I have often walked underneath or around 

 them, within 12 or 15 meters, though in the open they are somewhat 

 more wary. It is possible in any event to approach them without much 

 precaution, as the birds are far from shy. This leads to their destruc- 

 tion near regions that become settled as they are easy marks, even 

 for well-aimed sticks and stones. 



They move quietly, frequently standing motionless, waiting for the 

 crabs or fish that are their principal sources of sustenance. When 

 flushed they rise with a croaking harsh note, ivok zvok wok, and in late 

 afternoon, or at night, they utter a strange, barking, froglike call. This 

 may be varied to a curious snoring sound, repeated constantly, and at 

 times becoming louder and louder until it is almost a bellow, all notes 

 that carry far in still air. 



Nests that I have seen were flattened platforms of sticks, larger 

 than in most herons, placed in trees, as low as 4 meters from the 

 ground. In the Pearl Islands several were located on tree limbs pro- 

 jecting over low cliffs, above water at high tide. 



In the latter part of January on Isla Coiba I noted two pairs on a 

 little beach engaged in a display in which they alternately swelled the 

 breast and neck and pointed the bill upward with neck fully extended, 

 in bittern style. In this attitude, because of their short legs, they pre- 

 sented a strange, almost grotesque, appearance. On Isla San Jose on 

 February 9, 1944, I shot a female about to lay and saw a nest with 

 small young on February 22. A young bird in down was collected here 

 on March 24. Near Chico, Panama, a nest contained well grown 

 young on March 18, 1949. 



The young bird mentioned, taken from the nest, has light grayish 

 white down, except that the longer filaments on the crown are pure 

 white. The brown pinfeathers of the juvenal dress have barely begun 

 growth on the upper surface. 



Van Rossem described an ^gg seen in a nest near San Sebastian, El 

 Salvador as "Dull white, with a greenish tinge, of a rough grain" 

 (Dickey and van Rossem, Birds El Salvador, 1938, p. 83). Dawn 

 (cit. supra, fig. 1) who, in July 1962 photographed one nest and de- 

 scribed another, each with 3 eggs, found on the coast of Chiapas, states 



