102 



SHOBE BIRDS. 



marshes; when alarmed it will often squat amid the grass or 

 will even enter the water leaving only the bill exposed; at 

 other times it will stand perfectly motionless with the body 

 and neck perpendicular and the bill pointed upward, thus rie- 

 sembling a stake. Cries, when started, harsh and sharp ; dur- 

 ing the breeding season (May and June) the singular oesoph- 

 agal notes are given ; the bird treads down a portion of the 

 grass in a bog upon which it stands with bill pointed upward 

 and air is taken into the gullet in several audible gulps then 

 this ejected rather forcibly, producing two sounds, the first 

 single, the second double, sounding like ^'' Piuik a-pog'''' \ 

 when uttering these notes the bird bows its head up and 

 down. ( For a detailed account of the vocal organs see May- 

 nard's Contributions to Science, Vol. 1, 1889, pp 59-68.) 



b. Little Bitterns. Ardetta. 

 Oesophagus not modified to produce sound. Sexes not 

 similar. Young, somewhat different. Nests, placed in reeds, 

 high grass, or bushes, never on the ground; eggs, 3-4; pale, 

 greenish-blue. Size, small ; often breeds in scattering com- 

 munities, otherwise solitary ; fig. 118. 



1. LEAST BITTERN, A. exilis. 13.00; top of head, 

 back, and tail black, glossed with greenish; wings, brown; 



stripe on side of head, sides of 

 neck, and markings on wing 

 chestnut; upper wing coverts, and 

 beneath, buffy-yellow, mixed with 

 white; spot on sides of breast, 

 brown; naked space in front of 

 eye, bill and feet, yellow, fig. 118. 

 Temperate N. A. ; breeding in east- 

 ern U. S. from Mass. ( where it is 

 not common ) to Fla. ( where it is 

 abundant ), in May and June ; mi- 

 s&=< grates south in early Sep. ; winters 

 I, A, b, 1, 1-6, , from Fla. south to Brazil, rare in 

 the Bahamas and West Indies ; comes north in May. 



Fiff. 118. 



