THE LEAST BITTERN. 403 



cate organs of hearing, enable it to detect the approach of 

 a hunter long before he can get within gunshot. 



About the middle of October, it leaves New England, in 

 small detached groups, for the South. 



ARDETTA, GRAY. 



Ardetta, GRAY, List of Genera, App. (1842), 13. (Type Ardea minuta^ L.) 



Bill slender, acute ; both mandibles about equally curved ; legs very short ; tarsi 



less than middle toe; inner toe much longest; claws long, acute; tarsi broadly 



scutellate anteriorly. 



Tail of ten feathers; neck short; body much compressed; head smooth; the 



occipital feathers somewhat lengthened ; the lower neck bare of feathers behind ; no 



plumes ; plumage compact, lustrous ; uniform above ; sexes differently colored. 



ARDETTA EXILIS. Gray. 

 The Least Bittern. 



Ardea exilis, Gmelin. Syst. Nat., I. (1788) 648. Wils. Am. Orn., VIII. (1814) 

 87. Aud. Orn. Biog., III. (1835) 77; V. (1839) 606. 

 Ardea (ardeola) exilis, Nuttall. Man., H. (1834) 66. 

 Ardetta exilis, Gray. Gen. (1842). 



DESCRIPTION. 



Head above and the back dark glossy green; upper part of neck, shoulders, 

 greater coverts, and outer webs of some tertials, purplish- cinnamon; a brownish- 

 yellow scapular stripe. Female with the green of head and back replaced by 

 purplish-chestnut; iris yellow. 



Length, thirteen inches; wing, four and seventy-five one-hundredths ; tarsus, 

 one and sixty one-hundredths; bill, above, one and seventy-five one-hundredths 

 inches. 



This, the smallest of our Ardeidae, is a rare summer 

 inhabitant of New England. It is only seen in pairs or 

 solitary individuals, and, unlike most of our birds in this 

 family, seems persistently solitary in its habits. I have 

 never met with an individual alive, and will give a short 

 extract from the description by Audubon of its habits. He 

 says, " Although the Least Bittern is not unfrequently 

 started in salt marshes, it gives a decided preference to 

 the borders of ponds, lakes, or bayous of fresh water ; and 

 it is in secluded situations of this kind that it usually forms 

 its nest. This is sometimes placed on the ground, amid the 



