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AMERICAN BITTERN. 

 Botaurus lentiginosns. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Adult. — Bill yellowish, dusky on ridge; bare space in front 

 of eyes greenish-yellow; legs and feet greenish-yellow; eyes 

 yellow. Length, about twenty-six inches; extent, about forty- 

 five inches. General color brownish-yellow, top of head dull 

 brown; upper parts finely freckled and variegated with differ- 

 ent shades of brown, blackish and whitish; chin and throat 

 white with brown streak; a broad and glossy black stripe 

 about three inches long on upper part of neck. 



Habitat. — Temperate North America, south to Guatemala 

 and the West Indies. 



This as well as otlier species are very commonly but 

 erroiieously called Cranes. The American Bittern is 

 known to nimrods and fishermen in many sections of 

 the State as "G^reen-leg^ged Crane;" the name of "In- 

 dian Hen" is likewise applied to this bird as well as 

 the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, 



HAS A LOUD VOICE. 



This Bittern is a summer resident in Pennsylvania, 

 arriving early in April and remaining sometimes as 

 late as the early part of November. Its notes are loud 

 and quite remarkable and under favorable cii'cum- 

 (Stancea they may be heard at a distance of at least 

 three quarters of a mile. These notes are of two kinds. 

 One known as the "pumping" call is described as fol- 

 lows: pump-er-lunk, pump-er-lunk, pump-er-lunk, and 

 the other is so like the sound made by driving a stake 

 in the mud, that it has given rise to one of the com- 

 mon names of this bird, namely "Stake-driver." 



With us this species is seen singly or in pairs fre- 

 quenting chiefly the thick swampy places about mead- 

 ows, rivers and la-kes. 



