98 Brewster, Nuptial Plumes of Bitterns. [.Jan. 



He " did not feel sure it was a Bittern until it flew" for its general 

 coloring, " as seen through the glasses, looked dark bluish instead 

 of brown." On examining this specimen just after killing it he 

 found that the white feathers "appeared" to be attached "at the 

 point where" the humerus enters "the body and as near the back 

 as the breast." They "could easily be thrown out above the wing 

 which was evidently done" by the living bird. On each side of 

 the breast there were " about eight pure white feathers of a downy 

 or fluffy quality and two or more nearly all white but with some 

 brown near the shafts." This Bittern proved, on dissection, to 

 be a male. 



Since the above notes were made I have examined upwards of 

 fifty skins of the American Bittern preserved in collections other 

 than my own. On the strength of this and previous investigation 

 I base the following generalizations respecting the light colored 

 tufts of feathers which — for lack of a better name — I have 

 called ruffs. (1) They are, as has been said, attached to the skin 

 on each side of the breast near where the humerus enters the body 

 and beneath the shoulder of the folded wing by which they are 

 ordinarily concealed. (2) They are soft and fluffy in character 

 and on the whole more nearly like down than like ordinary contour 

 plumage although they often include typical feathers, rather large 

 and well developed. (3) They var\ r in color from creamy white 

 to light buffy or yellowish; the larger and broader feathers are 

 commonly plain like the rest but sometimes they have narrow 

 shaft stripes of rich reddish brown. (4) Although usually present 

 in adult males killed in April, May or June they are entirely want- 

 ing or but very slightly developed in a few such birds — represent- 

 ing perhaps ten per cent of those which I have seen. (5) Autumnal 

 specimens of both sexes and apparently all ages are almost, if not 

 quite, invariably without them. (6) I have seen only one female 

 (a breeding bird) which showed any traces (and these but slight) 

 of them. 



Concealed tufts of light-colored, downy plumage, similar in 

 character and position to those just described and probably used 

 in much the same manner for purposes of display, are worn by 

 fully mature males of the South American Bittern, Botaurus pinna- 

 tus. Two specimens of this species in the Museum of Comparative 



