HERONS AND BITTERNS. 129 



b. VV^ing under 11-00. 



b^. Plumage pure white ; legs and bill black ; feet yellow. 



197. Snowy Heron. 

 b^. Tips of primaries slate-color; plumage white, sometimes irregu- 

 larly marked with slaty blue . . 200. Little Blue Heron (Im.). 



B. Crown umber or reddish brown. 



a. Head and neck reddish brown ; body slate-color. 



198. Reddish Egret. 



b. Neck conspicuously streaked; body variegated . 190. Am. Bittern. 



C. Crown slaty or slate- blue with sometimes a purplish cast. 

 a. Wing-coverts more or less margined with rufous. 



199. Louisiana Heron. 

 h. Wing-coverts without rufous 200. Little Blue Heron. 



D. Crown greenish or bluish black. 



a. Wing over lO'OO ; entire under parts pure white. 



202. Black-crowned Night Heron. 



b. Wing under 10-00. 



^1. Wing-coverts green 201. Little Green Heron. 



c^. Wing-coverts rufous-chestnut and buff. 



6-a. Under parts buffy, more or less streaked . 191. Least Bittern. 



c3. Under parts rufous-chestnut . 191.1. Cory's Least Bittern. 

 2. Crown streaked. 



A. Wing under 10-00; upper parts greenish ' 201. Little Green Heron. 



B. Wing over 10-00 ; upper parts brownish or Ijlackish brown streaked 

 with white. 



a. Upper parts light brown ; outer edge of primaries reddish. 



202. Black-crowned Night Heron (Im.). 



b. Back dark brown ; crown nearly black with white streaks ; prima- 

 ries dark slate-color . 203. Yellow-crowned Night Heron (Im.). 



190. Botaurus lentiginosus {Montag.). American Bittern; 

 Marsh Hen. Ad. — A glossy black streak on either side of the upper neck; 

 top of the head and back of the neck bluish slate, more or less washed with 

 butfy ; back brown, bordered and irregularly mottled with buffy, and buffy 

 ochraceous, wing-coverts similarly marked, but the ground color grayer; un- 

 der parts creamy buff, the feathers all widely streaked with buffy brown, 

 which is finely speckled with buffy aud narrowly margined by brownish 

 gray. Im. — Similar, but the buffy everywhere deeper and more ochraceous. 

 L., 28-00 ; W., 10-50 ; Tar., 3-50 ; B., 3-00. 



Range. — Temperate North America ; breeds but rarely south of Virginia ; 

 winters from Virginia southward. 



Washington, rather common W. V., Aug. to Apl. Long Island, common 

 T. v., Apl. and Sept. to Nov. Sing Sing, rare S. R., Apl. 11 to Oct. 5. Cam- 

 bridge, not common S. R., Apl. 15 to Nov. 



Nest., of grasses, etc., on the ground in marshes. Eggi^i three to five, pale 

 olive-buff, 1-90 x 1-45. 



The Bittern makes its home in extensive grassy meadows with 

 plenty of water, but in the season of migration may be found and 

 10 



