28 THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 



Beetle-head. See Black-bellied Plover. 



Bittern, Jflarsh Hen or Stake Driver. Length, 

 twenty-seven inches; extent, three feet, four inches; bill, 

 three inches; head, slate, black and brownish yellow; 

 back, brown and brownish yellow ; breast, brown; belly, 

 yellowish brown; sides, yellowish gray; tail, brown; 

 upper wing, brown; under wing, white; legs, yellow; feet, 

 yellow. Lays from three to five eggs of a pale buff 

 color, two inches by one and a quarter in size. The nest 

 is built of grasses on the ground in marshes. It breeds 

 in temperate and tropical North America, as far south 

 as Guatemala, but seldom south of Virginia. It is 

 a regular visitant to New Jersey, being here from 

 April to October, but spends the winter mostly south of 

 the Middle States. The noise made by the bird, Brad- 

 ford Torrey says, sounds like the working of an old-fash- 

 ioned pump, a series of "hiccoughs" preceding the 

 "boom." In New Jersey it is occasionally called the 

 "Dunkadoo" from the sound it makes. When disturbed 

 it rises with a kwa. Although it seems to spend most 

 of its time during the day in standing still it is not alto- 

 gether a nocturnal feeder. It feeds principally on frogs, 

 lizards and snakes. 



Bittern, JLeast. Length, from twelve to thirteen 

 inches; extent, sixteen inches; bill, one and three-quarter 

 inches; head, black; back, greenish black; breast and belly, 

 white; sides, pale yellow; tail, brown and yellow; upper 

 wing, brown and slate; under wing, yellowish; legs, 

 greenish and yellow; feet, yellow. It lays from three to 

 six eggs usually four of a pale blue, one and one-fifth 

 by one inch in size. The nest is built of grasses and 

 plant stems among the rushes in the marshes. It breeds 

 in temperate and tropical America, northward to Maine, 

 and is a common summer resident along the New Jersey 

 coast, going to the Southern States and further south for 



