HERONS AND BITTERNS 221 



d 2 . Wing under 10*00. 



d 3 Wing-coverts green 201. LITTLE GREEN HERON. 



e 3 . Wing-coverts rufous-chestnut and buff. 

 e 4 . Underparts buffy, more or less streaked. 



191. LEAST BITTERN. 

 e 5 . Underparts rufous-chestnut. 



191.1 CORY'S LEAST BITTERN. 

 2. Crown streaked. 



A. Wing under 10*00; upperparts greenish 201. LITTLE GREEN HERON. 



B. Wing over 10*00; upperparts brownish or blackish brown streaked 



with white, 

 a. Upperparts light brown; outer edge of primaries reddish. 



202. BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON (Im.). 



6. Back dark brown; crown nearly black with white streaks; prima- 

 ries dark slate-color. 



203. YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT HERON (Im.). 



190. Botaurus lentiginosus (Montag.). AMERICAN BITTERN. Ads. 

 A glossy black streak on each side of upper neck; top of head and back of 

 neck bluish slate, more or less washed with buffy; back brown, bordered 

 and irregularly mottled with buffy, and buffy ochraceous, wing-coverts 

 similarly marked, but ground color grayer; underparts creamy buff, the 

 feathers all widely streaked with buffy brown, which is finely speckled with 

 buffy and narrowly margined by brownish gray. Im. Similar, but buffy 

 everywhere deeper and more ochraceous. L., 28*00; W., 10*50; Tar., 3'50; 

 B., 3*00. 



Range. N. A. Breeds from cen. B. C., s. Mackenzie, cen. Keewatin, 

 s. Ungava, and N. F., s. to s. Calif., n. Ariz., Kans., the Ohio Valley and N. 

 C., and less frequently in s. U. S.; winters from Calif., Ariz. s. Tex., the 

 Ohio Valley, and Va. s. to Cuba and Guatemala, and casually to the Bahamas, 

 Porto Rico, Jamaica, and Great Britain. 



Washington, rather] common W. V., July 15- Apl. 30. Long Island, 

 common T. V., Apl. 16-May 5; Aug. 4-Dec. 11. Ossining, rare S. R., Apl. 

 11-Oct. 5. Cambridge, common T. V., breeds locally, Apl. 15-Oct. 20. N. 

 Ohio, tolerably common S. R., Apl. 1-Oct. 1. Glen Ellyn, fairly common 

 S. R., Apl. 9-Nov. 1. SE. Minn., comnum S. R., Apl. 8. 



Nest, of grasses, etc., on the ground in marshes. Eggs, 3-5, pale olive- 

 buff, 1*90 x 1*45. Date, Cambridge, May 5; Pewaukee, Wasc., May 23. 



The Bittern makes its home in extensive grassy meadows with 

 plenty of water, but in the season of migration may be found and 

 heard "booming" in smaller and more accessible swampy places. Like 

 the other members of its family, it excels in standing still, and will hold 

 its head erect and motionless amid the tall grass till the watcher tires 

 of looking and pronounces the suspicious object nothing but a stick 

 after all. The Bittern's fame rests upon its vocal performance, or 

 "boom." This is sometimes exactly like the working of an old-fashioned 

 wooden pump, and sometimes even with the same bird like the 

 driving of a stake in a bog. It can be heard for a long distance. The 

 performance is best witnessed in spring, while the grass is still low. 

 That it is not so very difficult at that season to steal a march upon 

 the bird may perhaps be considered as established on the testimony 

 of a man who has never lived near a Bittern msadow, and yet has 

 watched the performance at much length and at near range on several 

 occasions. His first experience of this kind is described somewhat 

 fully in The Auk, Vol. VI., page 1. The strange notes are delivered 



