al 
408 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 
glimpse of the frog’s head makes its appearance, when, with a 
stroke instantaneous as lightning, he seizes it in his bill, beats it to 
death, and feasts on it at his leisure. 
“ When alarmed, the Green Bittern rises with a hollow, guttural 
scream; does not fly far, but usually alights on some old stump, 
tree, or fence adjoining, and looks about with extended neck; 
though, sometimes, this is drawn in so that his head seems to rest 
on his breast. As he walks along the fence, or stands gazing at 
you with outstretched neck, he has the frequent habit of jetting the 
tail. He sometimes flies high, with doubled neck, and legs 
extended behind, flapping the wings smartly, and travelling with 
great expedition. He is the least shy of all our Herons, and 
perhaps the most numerous and generally dispersed ; being found far 
in the interior, as well as along our salt marshes, and everywhere 
about the muddy shores of our mill-ponds, creeks, and large rivers. 
“The Green Bittern begins to build about the 20th of April: 
sometimes in single pairs, in swampy woods; often in companies ;. 
and not unfrequently in a kind of association with the Qua-birds, 
or Night Herons. The nest is fixed among the branches of the 
trees; is constructed wholly of small sticks, lined with finer twigs ; 
and is of considerable size, though loosely put together. The female 
lays four eggs, of the common oblong form, and of a pale light-blue 
color. The young do not leave the nest until able to fly ; and, for 
the first season at least, are destitute of the long-pointed plumage 
on the back: the lower parts are also lighter, and the white on 
the throat broader. During the whole summer, and until late in 
autumn, these birds are seen in our meadows and marshes, but 
never remain during winter in any part of the United States.” 
A large number of this bird’s eggs, lying before me, 
exhibit a variation of only from 1.56 by 1.20 inch to 1.49 
by 1.15 inch in dimensions. But one brood is reared in 
the season; and, by the 20th of September, the old and 
young leave New England for the South. 
NYCTIARDEA, Swarnson. 
Nyctiardea, Swanson, Class. Birds, II. (1887) 354. (Type Ardea nycticorax, 
Linn.) 
Nycticorax, STEPHENS, Shaw’s Gen. Zool., XI. (1819) 608. Same type. 
