BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 87 
Length, 27; wing, 11; tarsus, 3.60; bill, 2.75. 
Habitat, Temperate North America. 
The Bittern is almost universally distributed wherever the 
food supply is found. In an hour’s ride within my own county, 
a half dozen may be readily seen by any one acquainted with 
their habits, by overlooking a meadow a quarter of a mile away. 
He will notice what seems to be a stake in the ground rising 
but little above the grass. If he has a field glass, he will at 
once be able to make out the head and neck of his bird, but let 
him not think to see that head go down, or even move, should 
he wait half an hour, and how much longer I cannot say, for 
my time for observing the habits of birds has ever been too 
precious to stay his attitude out, but if he has a friend with 
him, or better a trained bird dog, the observer may send him 
forward, while he holds his game under his lens and he will 
soon see how the stake sinks out of sight and then he may 
trace the stealthy movements to another spot whence the stake 
will again appear. 
BOTAURUS EXILIS (GMEtIn). (191.) 
LEAST BITTERN. 
It is not a little remarkable that a species like this can 
remain so long unrecognized or supposably so rare when 
actually socommon. For long years I watched for the Least 
Bittern before I had the pleasure of having it in my hands, and 
when I was rewarded I had the additional pleasure of knowing 
how and where to look for more of them. I have of late years 
found them common in their favorite haunts about ponds em- 
braced in high reeds and flags, portions of which stand in the 
water. Not half a mile from the business center of my city is 
a pond of this character, where this species has been a regular 
summer resident since first I observed it nearly twenty years 
ago. An early visit to this pond long before sunrise, has 
always resulted in the catching of a glimpse of one or more of 
them along the borders of their covert. And I could add a 
score to the number of different localities where these birds 
may be found in their season, within three or four miles of the 
first. They come to the State a little later than the Greater 
Bitterns, generally the second week in April, and have begun 
building their nests by the 10th of May following. These are 
more commonly suspended from the reeds above high water 
mark. Fairly within the mass are frequent clusters or tussocks 
of the same, that afford the chosen supports for the nest while 
augmenting the concealment. Several coarse stalks are em- 
braced in the platform, which consists of dried grass so wound 
7 Zz 
