Am. Bittern SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS. 



ORDER HERODIONES : HERONS, ETC. 



FAMILY ARDEID^E: HERONS, BITTERNS, ETC. 

 American Bittern : Botaurus lentiginosus. 



Stake Driver. 



PLATE XII. FIG. 4. 



Length : Exceedingly variable, from 23-34 inches. (Coues.) 



Male and Female : Above yellowish brown, much streaked and mottled 

 with different shades of brown, from dark to light. Below 

 buffy white, the feathers striped and edged with brown. Tail 

 brown, small, and rounded. Bill yellow, edged with black ; 

 legs yellow-green. 



Note: Several harsh sounds and a note resembling the blow of a 

 mallet in driving a stake, hence its name Stake Driver. 



Season : Summer resident ; May to November. Not common. 



Breeds : Through range north of Virginia. In pairs, not in colonies. 



Nest : A rude affair on the ground. 



Eggs : 3-5, grayish brown. 



Range : Temperate North America, south to Guatemala and the West 

 Indies. 



This is the solitary Heron, of whom Hamilton Gibson 

 says, "many have heard the Stake Driver, but who shall 

 locate the stake?" It inhabits the loneliest bogs and 

 marshes and is the Booming Bittern to which Thoreau so 

 often refers. 



Except in the breeding-season, it is an entirely solitary 

 bird, and utterly averse to companionship. One of its 

 habits, when disturbed in its reedy hiding places, is to 

 stand motionless with its bill pointing skyward, thus merg- 

 ing completely with the surrounding marsh growth. 



The American Bittern is not a nocturnal feeder, though 

 his retiring habits lead people to think so ; he probably mi- 

 grates by night, but that is all. He seems to be a rather 

 sluggish, selfish character, mysterious to us ; simply because 

 we cannot fathom his plan of existence. He eats and drinks, 



250 



