250 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



while driving a stake in the mud; hence the popular names of Thunder- 

 pumper, Stake-driver, Bog-bull etc. Persons who are unfamiliar with the 

 bittern's note pass it by unnoticed, and I have often stood on piers and 

 bridges where several people were congregated and bitterns were booming 

 near by, but no one seemed to notice the strange note and when asked con- 

 cerning it, the}' usually admitted they had never heard it before. 



When flushed from its retreat on the marsh or riverside, the bittern 

 rises with a hoarse croak, its neck stretched out, its legs dangling, and 

 seeming to shrink in mortal terror from the impending danger, until well 

 under way, when it makes off with slow and measured stroke of its ample 

 wings. Its nest is placed in a secluded part of the marsh among the grass 

 and weeds and consists simply of a broad flat pile of dead grass, flags and 

 weed stalks. The eggs are from three to flve in number, of a brownish 

 drab color, about 2 inches in length by 1.5 in lesser diameter. 



The food of the bittern consists largely of frogs as well as all kinds 

 of small animals which inhabit the marsh, even mice and small birds, but 

 fish are rarely found in its stomach. It often stands motionless in the grass 

 with its bill pointing upward, its attitude, streaked neck, general hue, 

 and the black diagonal patch on the sides of its neck, all combining to 

 render it invisible. On several occasions I have found it quite impossible 

 to point out successfully to companions a bittern which was standing in 

 full view at no great distance, and often, when finally successful, have been 

 met with the assertion that it was no bird at all. 



The bittern is now protected by our laws and I see no reason why such 

 an interesting bird should not be preserved. 



Ixobrychus exilis (Gmelin) 

 Least Bittern 



Plate 23 



Ardea exilis Gmelin. Syst. Nat. 1 788. 2 : 645 



DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 225, fig. 190 

 A r de 1 1 a e X i lis A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1895. No. 191 



ixobrychus, perhaps from Gr. i^o's, birdlime; and jSpvxaofxat., to bellow ; exi'lis, Lat., slight, 



small 



Description. Male: Crown, back, rump and tail glossy black, a 

 narrow stripe of buffy along each side of the back; hind neck, part of the 



