35. BOTAUKUS. 261 



American Bittern, Nutt. Man. Orn. ii. p. 60 (1834) ; Yarr. Brit. B. 



ii. p. 481 (184.3). 

 Butor amerieaua, Swains. Classif. B. ii. p. 354 (1837). 

 Butor leutiginosus, Jard. Brit. B. iii. p. 147 (1842). 

 Botaurus mugitaus, Cab. in Scliomb. Reis. Guian. iii. p. 754 (1848) ; 



Cones, Proc. Philad. Acad. 1875, p. 353 ; id. Check-l. N. Am. B. 



p. 107 (1882) ; id. Ke]i N. Amer. B. 2nd ed. p. 6G4 (1884). 

 Botaurus adspersus, Licht. Nomencl. Av. Mus. Berol. p. 89 (1854). 

 Botaurus stellaris, var. minor, Bp. Cvnsp. Av. ii. p. 136 (1855). 

 Ardea freti liudsonis, Schl. Mus. Pays-Bas, Ardeoe, p. 49 (1863) ; 



Deyl. et Gerbe, Orn. Eur. ii. p. 309 (1869). 



Adult male. General colour above brown, blackish on the mantle 

 and upper back, barred and freckled with ochreous or rufous-buff ; 

 the wing-coverts like the back, somewhat shaded with ashy, the 

 greater series paler buff with coarser frecklings ; bastard-wing, 

 primarj'-coverts, and quills slaty blackish with rufous tips, the 

 inner secondaries mottled like the back ; lower back, rump, and 

 upper tail-coverts ashy brown, with ochreous and dusky cross- 

 markings, the upper tail-coverts more mottled with dusky ; tail- 

 feathers slaty grey, slightly mottled with rufous ; crown of head 

 dark brown or blackish, slightly rufesceut ; crest on the back of the 

 nape ashy olive washed with yellow ; ear-coverts dusky brown, 

 surmounted by a narrow whitish eyebrow and washed with straw- 

 yellow on the hinder parts, this colour extending down the sides of 

 the neck and being bordered below by a very broad band of black, 

 which starts from the base of the lower mandible and widens out 

 on the sides of the neck, being followed by a lateral ruff of ashy 

 feathers, streaked with pale ochre ; cheeks and upper throat white, 

 the latter with mesial narrow lines of dusky streaks ; remainder of 

 under surface of body ochreous buff, streaked with pale rufous, each, 

 streak being fringed with a line of black ; on each side of the chest 

 is an overhanging tuft of feathers, these feathers having broad black 

 centres, slightly mottled with rufous and edged with ochreous ; 

 lower abdomen, thighs, and under tail-coverts uniform ochreous 

 buff ; under wing-coverts and axillaries also ochreous buff, mottled 

 with dusky, the latter somewhat banded with rufous : " upper 

 mandible olivaceous black, the tomium (broadly) lemon-yellow ; 

 lower mandible pale lemon-yellow, deeper basally, with a stripe of 

 dusky brownish along the posterior part of the tomium ; lores and 

 eyelids lemon-yellow, the fonner divided longitudinally by a median 

 stripe of dusky olive from the eye to the base of the upper mandible ; 

 legs and feet bright yellowish green; claws pale brown, dusky 

 towards their points ; iris clear, light, sulphur-yellow next the 

 pupil, shading exteriorly into orange brownish, this encircled 

 narrowly with black "' (Baird, Brewer, ^- liidgwcuj). Total length 

 28 inches, culmen 3-1, wing 11-2, tail 3-6, tarsus 3'75. 



Adult female. Similar to the male in colour, but without having 

 the frills on the head and neck so much developed, while the black 

 band on the sides of the neck is conspicuously smaller. Total length 

 21 inches, culmen 2*9, wing 10-2, tail 3-2, tarsus 3*4. 



Youmj. Similar in general colour to the adult, but without the 

 "black band on the sides of the neck, the frills on the head and neck 



