Rare visi- 
tant. 
34 
GRALLATORES. BOTAURUS. BivrEern. 
of the mouth proceeds a broad streak of black and 
dark brown. The whole of the plumage is of a sienna- 
yellow, or pale buff colour, rayed and varied with black 
and reddish-brown. The sides of the neck are barred 
transversely with dark brown ; the front with large lon- 
gitudinal streaks of red-brown, intermixed with black- 
ish-brown. The feathers of the breast are glossy black, 
deeply margined with buff; those of the belly and ab- 
domen are buff, with narrow longitudinal streaks of 
brownish-black. The quills are brownish-black, barred 
with reddish-brown. ‘Tail short, reddish-brown, barred 
with black. The bill is yellowish-green ; the culmen 
darker ; the orbits and angles of the mouth yellow. 
Legs and toes pale grass-green; the claws (which are 
very long, particularly that of the hind toe) of a pale 
horn colour ; the middle one pectinated. The tibia is 
clothed with feathers to within half an inch of the tar- 
sal joint. 
AMERICAN BITTERN. 
Boravrus mokono, Vieill. 
Ardea mokoho, Wagler, Syst. Av. part 1. sp. 2 
Botaurus lentiginosus, Steph. Shaw’s Zool. 11. "506. p- 46. 
Ardea lentiginosa, Mont. Ornith. Dict. Supp. 
Ardea stellaris, var. B. Lath. Ind. Orn. 2. 680. sp. 18. 
Freckled Heron, Mont. Ornith. Dict. Supp 
Freckled Bittern, Shaw’s Zool. 11. 596. Pl. 46. 
American Bittern, Wiis. Orn. 8. 35. t. 65. f. 3. 
The Bittern from Hudson’s Bay, Edwards, 3. p. t. 136. 
In the supplement to Monracvu’s Ornithological Diction- 
ary, a bird is described under the title of the Freckled Heron 
(Ardea leutiginosa) ; as the author was unable at that time 
to refer it to any known species, though he suspected it 
might be the female of some of the rarest European Herons. 
Subsequent investigation has proved it to be identical with 
