270 ARDEIDZ, HERONS. —GEN. 238. 
with buff superciliary stripe; tail brown; quills greenish-black, with a 
glaucous shade, brown-tipped ; bill black and yellowish, legs greenish, soles 
yellow; 23-28 long; wing 10-13; tail 43, of only 10 feathers; bill about 
3; tarsus about 33. Temperate N. Am., abundant. Not gregarious; nests 
on the ground; eggs 4-5, drab-colored. Wus., viii, 35, pl. 65, f.3; Nurr., 
ii, 60; Aup., vi, 94, pl. 365; Bp., 674. Enpicorr, Am. Nat. iii, 169. mmnor. 
Fic. 177. Bittern. 
238. Genus ARDETTA Gray. 
Least Bittern. No peculiar feathers, but those of the lower neck long 
and loose, as in the bittern; size very small; 11-14 inches long; wing 4-5; 
tail 2 or less; bill 2 or less; tarsus about 13. Sexes dissimilar. ¢ with 
eer 
————— 
the slightly crested crown, back and tail, glossy greenish-black; neck ” 
behind, most of the wing coverts, and outer edges of inner quills, rich 
chestnut, other wing coverts brownish-yellow; front and sides of neck, and 
under parts, brownish-yellow, varied with white along the throat-line, the 
sides of the breast with a blackish-brown patch; bill and lores mostly pale 
yellow, the culmen blackish; eyes and soles yellow; legs greenish-yellow ; 
@ with the black of the back entirely, that of the crown mostly or wholly, 
replaced by rich purplish-chestnut, the edges of the scapulars forming a_ 
brownish-white stripe on either side. U. S., common. Wmits., viii, 37, pl. 
65; f. 4; Nurr:, ii, 665 Aup:, v1, 1005 pl 36Gse Bp ton os en mE SaaS 
Family GRUIDAi. Cranes. 
As already intimated, cranes are related to rails in essential points of structure, 
though more resembling herons in their general aspect. They are all large birds, 
some being of immense stature; the legs and neck are extremely long, the wings 
ample, and the tail short, usually of twelve broad feathers. The head is generally, 
in part, naked and papillose or wattled in the adult, with a growth of hair-like 
feathers, or, in some cases, an upright tuft of curiously bushy plumes. The general 
plumage is compact, in striking contrast to that of herons; but the inner remiges, 
in most cases, are enlarged and flowing. In some species, the sternum is enlarged 
and hollowed to receive a fold of the windpipe, as in swans. Bill equalling or 
exceeding the head in length, straight, rather slender but strong, compressed, con- 
tracted opposite the nostrils, obtusely pointed ; nasal fossee short, broad, shallow ; 
nostrils near the middle of the bill, large, broadly open and completely pervious ; 
ee 
— T= wee 
