Herons and Bitterns. 



Order, Herodiones. 

 Family, Ardeidae. 



191. LEAST BITTERN. Botaurus exilis. Almost fourteen inches 

 long. A suggestion of a crest. Head and upper body black with 

 greenish sheen. Body brown, red, buff, green and yellow in vary- 

 ing shades. Feet, bill and eyes greenish yellow. Found about creeks 

 and marshes. Distinctly a marsh wader. 



190. AMERICAN BITTERN. Botaurus lentiginosus. Two and a 

 half feet long. Legs long and unfeathered as befits a wading bird. 

 Four toes. Long bill and head suitable for frog-catching. Mixed 

 brown, black, buff, slate and yellow in color. Throat white. Called 

 also "thunder-pump" and "stakedriver" from its cry. 



194. GREAT BLUE HERON or BLUE CRANE. Ardea Herodias. 

 Nearly four feet long. Subdued blue above. White head with black 

 patch above the eye running into a pretty crest. General characteristics 

 of wading birds with long legs and yellow bill. Larger than the Ameri- 

 can bittern. Black legs and feet. Long bill, yellow. 



201. LITTLE GREEN HERON. Ardea virescens. About a foot 

 and a half long. Crested and plumed. White throat and a mixture 

 of green, yellow and brown upon the body. Dark green head and bill 

 with chestnut nieck. Found like others of its kind along the edges of 

 marshes. 



202. BLACK CROWNED NIGHT HERON. Nycticorax nycticorax 

 naevius. About two feet long. Conspicuous white trailing crest during 

 nesting. Upper parts dull black especially crown and back, under parts 

 white including throat, middle parts gray. Bill nearly black, eyes 

 red, legs yellow. 



AMERICAN BITTERN. 



If a person should try to describe every little change of color 

 in this bird, he would have to describe each separate feather, yet 

 he is easily identified for he is the most common of our big waders. 



As you are riding along in the train, passing a lake or a small 



