AMERICAN BITTERN. 53 



The American Bittern is twenty- seven inches long, and three 

 feet four inches in extent; from the point of the bill to the extre- 

 mity of the toes it measures three feet; the bill is four inches long, 

 the upper mandible black, the lower greenish yellow; lores, 

 and eyelids yellow; irides bright yellow; upper part of the 

 head flat, and remarkably deprest; the plumage there is of a 

 deep blackish brown, long behind and on the neck, the general 

 colour of which is a yellowish brown shaded with darker; this 

 long plumage of the neck the bird can throw forward at will, 

 when irritated, so as to give him a more formidable appearance; 

 throat whitish, streaked with deep brown; from the posterior 

 and lower part of the auriculars a broad patch of deep black 

 passes diagonally across the neck, a distinguished characteristic 

 of this species; the back is deep brown barred and mottled with 

 innumerable specks and streaks of brownish yellow; quills 

 black, with a leaden gloss, and tipt with yellowish brown; legs 

 and feet yellow, tinged with pale green; middle claw pectinated; 

 belly light yellowish brown streaked with darker, vent plain, 

 thighs sprinkled on the outside with grains of dark brown; male 

 and female nearly si ike, the latter somewhat less. According to 

 Bewick, the tail of the European Bittern contains only ten 

 feathers; the American species has invariably twelve. The in- 

 testines measured five feet six inches in length, and were very 

 little thicker than a common knitting-needle; the stomach is 

 usually filled with fish or frogs. 



This bird when fat is considered by many to be excellent 

 eating. 



