246 BIRDS OF BERMUDA. 
Length, 26.50; wing, 11.00; tarsus, 3.60; bill, 2.75. 
Hab.—Entire temperate North America up to 58° or60°; Cuba; south 
to Guatemala; regularly migratory; accidental in Europe. (Coues.) 
A regular visitor in the autumn, and occasionally in March, frequent- 
ing the sedgy patches on the edges of the mangrove swamps. Mr. 
Hurdis says: “The stomach of one, shot in the Pembroke Marshes, 
contained an eel 6 inches long, a mouse, a dragonfly, a grasshopper, 
and part of a small golden carp.” To show how plentifully they arrive 
in certain years, I may mention (though a cold shudder passes through 
me as I do so) that no less than thirteen were shot by one officer, who 
shall be nameless, in the autumn of 1875. 
Genus ARDETTA, Gray. 
129. Ardetta exilis, (Gm.) Gray. Least Bittern. 
Ardea exilis, Gm., Lath., Wils., Wagl., Nutt., Aud., Gir., Newb. 
Ardea (Ardeola) exilis, Bp. 
Ardeola exilis, Bp., Gosse, Hoy. © _ 
Butor exilis, Sw. 
Ardetta exilis, Gray, Gundl., Bd., Scl., Coues & Prent., Verr., Allen, Coues, 
Lawr., Dress., Mayn., Salv., Ridg., &c. 
Length, 13.00; wing, 4.75; tarsus, 1.60; bill, 1.75. 
Hab.—United States and British Provinces; breeds throughout its 
United States range, wintering in the South, Cuba, Jamaica, Central 
(and South?) America. (Coues.) 
Has occurred both in spring and autumn, but, from its frequenting 
the thick mangrove swamps and hiding among their tangled roots, has 
not very often been obtained. Colonel Wedderburn procured several 
Specimens between 1847 and 1850. I shot a female near the Sluice- 
gates on March 1, 1875, and Lieutenant Denison records one shot at 
Basden’s Pond in December, 1875. 
Sub-order ALECTORIDES. 
Family RALLIDZ. 
Sub-family RALLINAS. 
Genus RALLUS, Linn. 
130. Rallus virginianus, Linn. Virginian Rail. 
Rallus virginianus, Linn., Gm., Wils., Bp., Nutt., Aud., Gir., Gundl., Bd., 
Coop. & Suck., Scl. & Salv., Dress., and modern authors. 
Aramus (Pardirallus) virginianus, Gray. 
Rallus aquaticus var. 3, Lath. 
Rallus limicola, Vieil. 
Length, about 74; wing, 4; tail, 14. 
