~ 
90 WATER BIRDS 
190. AMERICAN BITTERN. — Botaurus lentiginosus. 
(Common names: Marsh Hen; Stake-driver; Thunder 
Pump.) 
Famity: The Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns. 
Length: 29.00. 
Adults: Crownand nape slate-color, more or less tinged with light brown ; 
a black stripe on either side of the neck ; back irregularly mottled 
chestnut, blackish, and light brown; quills and coverts gray, tipped 
with chestnut ; under parts light brown to pale butfy-white on throat, 
striped with darker. 
Young: Similar to adults. 
Geographical Distribution: Temperate North America, south to Gua- 
temala. 
Breeding Range: From the Middle States northward. In California in 
limited numbers. 
Breeding Season: May and June. 
Nest: A loose mat of marsh vegetation or grasses; on the ground in 
swampy places. 
Eggs: 3 to 5; light olive. Size 1.90 x 1.50. 
Tus much-scorned bird, for whom neither sportsman 
nor ornithologist has much regard, is common in nearly 
every marsh and slough throughout the United States at 
some season of the year. It is called “ Fly up the creek,” 
“Stake-driver,” “ Bog-bull,” and other names too un- 
pleasant to mention. Most of them bear some reference 
to its peculiar love song, called commonly “ pumping.” 
The sound is somewhat like the noise of a distant pile- 
driver, and is at once recognized as soon as heard. The 
birds may be both heard and seen in the marshes at 
Alviso and in Los Angeles County, California. Only two 
things are required by the observer, — patience and 
leisure. Twilight and dawn are the hours at which they 
