622 THE AMERICAN BITTERN. 
No. 247. 
AMERICAN BITTERN. 
A. O. U. No. 190. Botaurus lentiginosus ( Montag. ). 
Synonyms.—Boc-nuLt. STAKE-DRIVER. THUNDER-PUMP. INDIAN HEN. 
Description.—Adult: General color ochraceous or ochraceous-buff ; darker, 
brownish, on back, the crown and upper back washed with blackish, the neck 
obscurely streaked with buffy and brown; the back and wings finely mottled, 
brownish, fuscous and ochraceous, becoming grayer marginally on wing-coverts ; 
wing-quills and their coverts slaty; inner primaries and the secondaries tipped with 
ochraceous-rufous; a glossy, black or blackish stripe on side of neck anteriorly, 
continued to bill by indistinct, brownish line; chin and upper throat white; belly 
and crissum unmarked buffy; remaining underparts buffy or whitish, marked 
with large stripes of mottled ochraceous and dusky ; bill brownish black on ridge of 
culmen, pale yellow on sides and below; feet and legs yellowish green. Very 
variable in size. Length 23.00-34.00 (584.2-863.6) ; wing 11.13 (282.7) ; tail 4.35 
(110.5); bill 3.00 (76.2); tarsus 3.60 (91.4); middle toe and claw 3.98 (101.1). 
Recognition Marks.— Brant size; ochraceous coloration; heavily streaked 
below; secretive, swamp-loving ways; heavy flight; “pumping’’ and “‘stake- 
driving” notes. 
Nesting.— Nest: on the ground in swamps, or on dry swamp islands, a mere 
depression with scafit lining of grasses, ete. Eggs: 3-5, olive-drab or olive-buff, 
unmarked. Av. size, 1.90 x 1.44 (48.3 x 36.6). Season; c. June Ist; one brood. 
General Range.—Temperate North America south to Guatemala, Cuba, 
Jamaica, and Bermuda; occasional in British Islands. 
Range in Washington.—Regular but not common summer resident and 
migrant in suitable localities thruout the State. 
Authorities.—Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX. 1858, p. 675. C&S. Lt. Kk. 
Regs a8 
Specimens.—( U. of W.) Prov. B. E? 
THE records of the bog-bull in Washington are somewhat meager. 
Suckley records a specimen from Fort Steilacoom; and Bowles notes it as a 
rare but regular migrant at Tacoma. I have myself seen it only at Brook 
Lake, in Douglas County, where it unquestionably breeds in the extensive 
marshes bordering Crab Creek. Specimens are occasionally brought into town 
by hunters, who persist in shooting strange creatures at sight—for no better 
reason than that they are strange. For all that the Bittern is so large to 
appearance, it is a light-weight, a mere mass of skin and feathers, not so 
heavy as some ducks. A light charge of fine shot will bring it down; but if it 
is only wounded, beware of that sharp beak, which shoots out like lightning, 
and strikes the eye of dog or master with deadly precision. 
This curious fowl is at home in the fastnesses of the swamp. Here 
a 
