126 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



4i feet, Willi,' 24.50-27.00, culmen 9.75-13.00, tarsus 11.25-12.50, middle toe 4.20-4.80. 

 Hah. Conliiieutal tropical America, north to Texas. 



189. M. americana Linn. Jabira. 



Family ARDEID^E.— The Herons. (Page 122.) 



Generd. 



Tail-feathers 10, very short, seavcely more stiff than the coverts; outer toe de- 

 cidedly shorter than the inner; claws lengthened, slightly curved. (Sub- 

 family .Bofaurmo;.) Botaurus. (Page 126.) 



Tail-feathers 12, more lengthened, and decidedly more stiff than the coverts ; 



outer toe as long as or decidedly longer than the inner ; claws comparatively 



short and strongly curved. (Subfamily Ardcina'.) 



t'. Bill comparatively long and narrow, the culmen equal to at least five times 



the greatest depth of the bill ; plumage of the young not conspicuously 



different in pattern from that of the adult Ardea. (Page 128.) 



1-. Bill comparatively short and thick, the culmen equal to not more than four 

 times the greatest depth of the bill ; ])lumago of the young eonspicuou.sly 

 different in pattern from that of the adult Nycticorax. (Page 132.) 



Genus BOTAURUS Stephens. (Page 126, pi. XXXIII., figs. 1, 2.) 



Species. 



«'. Size large (wing more than 9.50) ; sexes alike in coloration, and young not ob- 

 viously different from adults. (Subgenus Botaurus.') 

 b\ Neck plain ochraceous, or minutely freckled, the fore-neck striped with 

 whitish; wing-coverts minutely freckled with different shades of ochra- 

 ceous and rusty ; a blackish or dull grayish stripe on side of neck ; 

 lower parts distinctly striped. 



Prevailing color ochraceous, this much varied above b}' dense mottling 

 and freckling of i-cddish brown and blackish ; quills and their coverts 

 slate-color, tipped with pale cinnamon ; lower parts, including fore- 

 neck, pale buff, striped with brown ; length 24.00-34.00, wing 9.80- 

 12.00, culmen 2.50-3.20, tarsus 3.10-3.85, middle toe 2.90-3.60. E(/fjs 

 1.88 X 1.43, pale olive-drab, or pale isabella-color. Hah. Whole of 

 temperate and tropical North America, south to Guatem.ala, Cuba, 

 Jamaica, and Bernnulas; occasional in British Islands. 



100. B. lentiginosus (MoNTAd.). American Bittern. 



6'. Neck transver.sely barred with blackish and ochraceous; wing-coverts 



coarsely variegated, in irregular, somewhat "herring-bone," pattern, 



with blackish on an ochraceous ground-color; no black or grayish stripe 



