KEY TO THE WATER BIRDS OF FLORIDA. 



247 



The immature l)ird has the head feathered and the plumage grayish on the head and some- 

 times grayish white on the body. 



Length, 41 : Wing, 18.50; Tarsus, 8.20: IJill, 9.20. 



Ranges throughout Southern United States, wandering occasionally as 



far north as Pennsylvania and New York, and southward to Cuba, Jamaica, 



and South America. This species is common in Florida, where it breeds. 



It builds a large rough nest of sticks, which is placed in a tree. The eggs 



are usually three ; they are white, and covered with a chalky deposit. 



Suborder Herodii. 



Herons, Egrets, Bitterns, etc. 



Family ARDEID^. Herons, Bitterns, etc. 



Subfamily BOTAURIN^. Bitterns. 



Genus BOTAURUS Hermann. 



Subgenus BOTAURUS, 



BOTAURUS LENTIQINOSUS {Montag,). 



American Bittern. 



Upper parts brown ; wing coverts edged and mottled with tawny and buff and washed with 

 ashy : top of the head and nape slaty with black streak on sides of the upper neck ; neck and 



