260 Bent, Nesting Habits, of Florida Herodiones. |_Ai)ril 



the St. Johns River and from similar locations on Merritts Island. 

 It probably nests in the saw-grass with its small relative, the 

 Least Bittern, where its nest must be securely bidden. 



In Monroe County, where there are practically no fresh water 

 marshes south of the everglades, we failed to see an individual of 

 either species of Bittern. 



Ardetta exilis. Least Bittern. 



We found this little Bittern a common resident in all suitable 

 localities — fresh water marshes — in Florida that we visited. It 

 is so shy and retiring in its habits and so hard to flush that we 

 undoubtedly overlooked it many times ; if we had spent more 

 time in exploring the saw-grass sloughs we should probably have 

 found it very abundant. None of the birds that we saw seemed 

 to be referable to Cory's Bittern. 



We found nests containing fresh eggs in the St. Johns marshes 

 on April 18 and 22 and on Merritts Island on April 26, 1902, 

 four nests in all. The nests were all built in tall, thick tussocks 

 of fine grass, higher than a man's head, growing in saw-grass 

 sloughs. The nests were merely crude platforms of straws, 

 measuring about 7 by 4 or 7 by 5 inches, well concealed in the 

 centers of the tussocks and from 24 to 30 inches above the 

 ground or water ; they were exceedingly frail structures, barely 

 able to hold the four bluish white eggs. Boat-tailed Crackles 

 generally frequent the same localities as the Least Bitterns. In a 

 small slough, about 30 yards square, on Merritts Island we found 

 two nests of the Bitterns and five nests of the Crackles. 



Ardea occidentalis. Creat White Heron. 



Since the days of the illustrious Audubon very little has been 

 written about this magnificent Heron, the grandest, the hand- 

 somest, and the shyest of its tribe. Its range within the United 

 States is confined to the extreme southern coast of Florida and 

 the mangrove keys, where it is really abundant and forms a 

 striking feature in the landscape. It is no uncommon sight to see 

 ten or twelve of these great birds standing in the shallow water 



