THE AMERICAN BITTERN. 463 
No. 208. 
AMERICAN BITTERN. 
vA. O. U. No. 190. Botaurus lentiginosus (Montag.). 
Synonyms.—Boc-Butt,; STAKE-DRIVER; ‘THUNDER-PUMP; INDIAN HEN. 
Description.—Adult: General color ochraceous or ochraceous-buft ; darker, 
brownish, on back, the crown and upper back washed with blackish, the neck 
obscurely streaked with aly 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 Ww ith 
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 under parts 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. oe ; av. of four Columbus speci- 
mens: wing 11.13 (282.7) ; tail 4.35 (110.5) ; bill 3 (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. 
Nest, on the ground in swamps, or on dry swamp islands, a mere depression 
with scant lining of grasses, etc. Eggs, 3-5, olive-drab or olive-buff, unmarked. 
Av. size, 1.90 x 1.44 (48.3 x 36.6). 
General Range.—Temperate North America south to Guatemala, Cuba, 
Jamaica, and Bermuda; occasional in British Islands. 
Range in Ohio.—Not common summer resident; more common spring and 
fall migrant. 
THE rather meager opportunities now afforded in this state for the 
study of this remarkable bird in its haunts are supplemented from time to 
time by the neighbor boys who bring in specimens found dead or wounded 
under telegraph wires during the migrations, or whose brothers shoot the 
strange creatures on 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 
he skulks and feeds quietly by day; but as twilight approaches, he becomes 
much more active, and stirs about among the reeds hunting for crayfish and 
frogs, or wading with deliberate step in search of water insects and minnows. 
