172 BIRDS OF THE BAHAMA ISLANDS. 



of slate-color ; wing-coverts, green, feathers edged with rufous-white ; 

 carpus edged with white ; tail, greenish ; upper mandible, black ; 

 lower mandible, mostly yellow ; legs, yellowish green ; upper breast- 

 feathers lengthened into a sort of plume, covering a bare space. 



Length 16, wing 6.50, tail 2.40, tarsus 1.85, bill 2.30. 



An abundant resident, frequenting the marshes and small inland 

 pools. We found them very abundant at Inagua. Incubation com- 

 mences about May 10. On May 27 I procured a number of their 

 nests, which I found common among the mangroves bordering the 

 inland lake. The nest is roughly constructed of small sticks, loosely 

 put together. The eggs are from three to four in number, of a pale 

 bluish green color. 



Gosse, in writing of this species, says, " The flight of all the 

 Herons is flagging and laborious. I have been amused to see a 

 Humming-bird chasing a Heron, — the minuteness and arrowy 

 swiftness of the one contrasting strangely with the expanse of wing 

 and unwieldy motion of the other. The little aggressor appears 

 to restrain his powers in order to annoy his adversary, dodging 

 around him and pecking at him like one of the small frigates of 

 Drake or Frobisher peppering one of the unwieldy galleons of the 

 ill-fated Armada. Now and then, however, I have noticed this 

 and other species of Heron intermit this laborious motion, and sail 

 swiftly and gracefully on balanced wings, particularly when inclining 

 their flight towards the earth. When wounded so as to be unable 

 to fly, the Green Bittern seeks to escape by running, which it does 



