ARDEID^E. 385 



n est, composed of sedges, was built in a dense clump of bulrushes. 

 The eggs, three in number, were of a pale skim- milk blue color 

 and were about 1*25 inches in length. 



Ardetta minuta, Lin. 



935. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 756 ; Murray's Vertebrate 



Zoology of Sind, p. 274. 



THE LITTLE BITTERN. 



Length, 14; wings, 575; tail, 2; tarsus, 1 '5; bill at front, 

 1-75. 



Bill bright yellow, dusky above, round the eyes yellow ; irides 

 yellow ; feet yellowish-green. 



Top of head, occiput, back, scapulars, and tail, glossy 

 black ; small wing-coverts and the upper three-fourths of the 

 other coverts pale sienna-yellow, the lower fourth more or less 

 white ; quills ashy-black ; cheeks, neck, and all the lower sur- 

 face of the body pale rufescent, tinged with purplish yellow on 

 the neck, and with brown streaks on the flanks. 



Within our limits the Little Bittern has only been recorded 

 from Sind, where Mr. Doig obtained the eggs. 



GENUS, Botaurus, Brisson. , 



Bill rather short, stout, higher at the base than broad ; the 

 upper mandible curved towards the point ; tarsi short ; tibia 

 feathered for the greater portion of its length ; feet very long ; 

 claws long, moderately curved ; neck short, densely feathered 

 and thick. 



Botaurus stellaris, Lin. 



936. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 757 ; Butler, Guzerat ; 

 Stray Feathers, Vol. IV, p. 24 ; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. 

 IX, p. 436 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 275. 



THE BITTERN. 



Length, 26 to 30 ; expanse, 46 ; wing, 1 3 ; tail, 4'5 ; tarsus, 

 375 ; bill at front, 3. 



Bill brown, below pale yellow ; orbits pale yellow ; irides 

 bright gamboge-yellow ; legs greenish-yellow. 



Crown of head and a broad moustache black ; neck ochre- 

 yellow, with brown zigzag lines on the sides, and long streaks 

 and spots of brown in front ; upper plumage ochre-yellow with 

 a tinge of reddish, each feather marked with a dusky spot ; 

 primaries and secondaries dark ferruginous, with bars of blackish- 

 brown ; all the coverts (except the primary) and the scapulars, 

 mottled yellow and dusky ; beneath, the same, but paler, and 

 with large dusky streaks. 



The Bittern is a rare bird ; it occurs in Sind, and has been 

 recorded from one or two localities in the Deccan. It is a cold 

 weather visitant only. 



25 



