THE AMERICAN BITTERN. 463 



No. 208. 



AMERICAN BITTERN. 



A. O. U. No. 190. i iota in- us lentiginosus (Montag.). 



Synonyms. BOG-BUI.L; STAKE-DRIVER; THUNDER-PUMP; INDIAN HEN. 



Description. Adult : General color ochraceous or ochraceous-buff ; darker, 

 brownish, on back, the crown and upper back washed with blackish, the neck 

 obscurely streaked with buffy and brown ; the back and wings finely mottled, 

 brownish, fuscous and ochraceous, becoming grayer marginally on wing-coverts; 

 wing-quills and their coverts slaty ; inner primaries and the secondaries tipped with 

 ochraceous-rufous ; a glossy, black or blackish stripe on side of neck anteriorly, 

 continued to bill by indistinct, brownish line ; chin and upper throat white ; belly 

 and crissum unmarked buffy ; remaining under parts buffy or whitish, marked with 

 large stripes of mottled ochraceous and dusky ; bill brownish black on ridge of 

 culmen, pale yellow on sides and below ; feet and legs yellowish green. Very 

 variable in size. Length 23.00-34.00 (584.2-863.6) ; av. of four Columbus speci- 

 mens: wing 11.13 (282.7) ; tail 4.35 (110.5) > bill 3.00 (76.2) ; tarsus 3.60 (91.4) ; 

 middle toe and claw 3.98 (101.1). 



Recognition Marks. Brant size ; ochraceous coloration ; heavily streaked 

 below ; secretive, swamp-loving ways ; heavy flight ; "pumping" and "stake- 

 driving" notes. 



Nest, on the ground in swamps, or on dry swamp islands, a mere depression 

 with scant lining of grasses, etc. Eggs, 3-5, olive-drab or olive-buff, unmarked. 

 Av. size, 1.90 x 1.44 (48.3 x 36.6). 



General Range. Temperate North America south to Guatemala, Cuba, 

 Jamaica, and Bermuda ; occasional in British Islands. 



Range in Ohio. Not common summer resident ; more common spring and 

 fall migrant. 



THE rather meager opportunities now afforded in this state for the 

 study of this remarkable bird in its haunts are supplemented from time to 

 time by the neighbor boys who bring in specimens found dead or wounded 

 under telegraph wires during the migrations, or whose brothers shoot the 

 strange creatures on sight, for no better reason than that they are strange. 

 For all that the Bittern is so large to appearance, it is a light-weight, a mere 

 mass of skin and feathers, not so heavy as some ducks. A light charge of 

 fine shot will bring it down ; but if it is only wounded, beware of that sharp 

 beak, which shoots out like lightning, and strikes the eye of dog or master 

 with deadly precision. 



This curious fowl is at home in the fastnesses of the swamp. Here 

 he skulks and feeds quietly by day; but as twilight approaches, he becomes 

 much more active, and stirs about among the reeds hunting for crayfish and 

 frogs, or wading with deliberate step in search of water insects and minnows. 



