100 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 



June 17th, 1906. 1 Professor A. H. Phillips took a half-fledged bird 

 at Princeton June 24th, 1899, 2 and Dr. C. C. Abbott tells me it breeds 

 on his marshes below Trenton. In the southern part of the State 

 Mr. H. W. Hand reports occasional nests near Cape May, on the bay 

 side marshes, and Mr. W. B. Crispin found a nest near Salem, May 

 28th, 1904. Only about five, he tells me, have been found there in 

 the last fifteen years. 



The Bittern is a somewhat solitary inhabitant of the great coast and 

 river marshes, where heavy growths of cat-tails, reeds and coarse 

 grasses offer concealment. They are perhaps more frequently seen 

 and shot during the Railbird season in the autumn, when gunners 

 often flush these innocent, ungainly birds and then wantonly use 

 them for targets. Their peculiar vocal performance in springtime, 

 which has given the bird the names of "Thunder Pumper/ 5 "Stake 

 Driver," etc., can be heard for long distances, and is well likened to 

 the noise of an old pump or of pounding on a stake. 



191 Ixobrychus exilis (Gmelin). 

 Least Bittern. 



Adult male. Length, 12-14. Wing, 4.30-5.25. Above, glossy black; back 

 of neck, rufous ; wings, mainly buff ; under parts, buff, with a black spot on 

 each side of the breast. 



Adult female. Similar, but browner, and under parts somewhat streaked. 



Young in first winter. Similar to adults, but with chestnut on the back, and 

 somewhat streaked below. 



Nest. A platform of leaves and stems of grass and rushes supported among 

 cat-tails and other coarse vegetation ; eggs, three to five, pale bluish, 1.20 x .90. 



The Least Bittern is a summer resident in various parts of the 

 State, and is doubtless more plentiful than generally supposed, fre- 

 quently escaping notice on account of its secretive habits. It 

 arrives from April 24th to 27th, and the latest fall date that 

 I have is September 3d. It seems to be mainly a fresh or 

 brackish-water bird, and is usually rare on the seacoast. It 

 nests in Morris county (Thurber), at Paterson (J. H. Clark), 

 on the Newark marshes, May 30th to June 17th (Haan and 



1 Auk, 1907, pp. 1-11. 



2 Birds of Princeton, p. 38. 



