408 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



glimpse of the frog's head makes its appearance, when, with a 

 stroke instantaneous as lightning, he seizes it in his bill, beats it to 

 death, and feasts on it at his leisure. 



" When alarmed, the Green Bittern rises with a hollow, guttural 

 scream ; does not fly far, but usually alights on some old stump, 

 tree, or fence adjoining, and looks about with extended neck; 

 though, sometimes, this is drawn in so that his head seems to rest 

 on his breast. As he walks along the fence, or stands gazing at 

 you with outstretched neck, he has the frequent habit of jetting the 

 tail. He sometimes flies high, with doubled neck, and legs 

 extended behind, flapping the wings smartly, and travelling with 

 great expedition. He is the least shy of all our Herons, and 

 perhaps the most numerous and generally dispersed ; being found far 

 in the interior, as well as along our salt marshes, and everywhere 

 about the muddy shores of our mill-ponds, creeks, and large rivers. 



" The Green Bittern begins to build about the 20th of April : 

 sometimes in single pairs, in swampy woods ; often in companies ; 

 and not unfrequently in a kind of association with the Qua-birds, 

 or Night Herons. The nest is fixed among the branches of the 

 trees ; is constructed wholly of small sticks, lined with finer twigs ; 

 and is of considerable size, though loosely put together. The female 

 lays four eggs, of the common oblong form, and of a pale light-blue 

 color. The young do not leave the nest until able to fly ; and, for 

 the first season at least, are destitute of the long-pointed plumage 

 on the back : the lower parts are also lighter, and the white on 

 the throat broader. During the whole summer, and until late in 

 autumn, these birds are seen in our meadows and marshes, but 

 never remain during winter in any part of the United States." 



A large number of this bird's eggs, lying before me, 

 exhibit a variation of only from 1.56 by 1.20 inch to 1.49 

 by 1.15 inch in dimensions. But one brood is reared in 

 the season ; and, by the 20th of September, the old and 

 young leave New England for the South. 



NYCTIARDEA, SWAINSON. 



Nyctiardea, SWAINSON, Class. Birds, II. (1837) 354. (Type Ardea nycticorax, 

 Linn.) 



Nycticorax, STEPHENS, Shaw's Gen. Zool., XI. (1819) 608. Same type. 



