Plate LX. 



Fig. 7. ARDETTA EXIUS-Least Bittern. 



The Least Bittern is the smallest of its tribe, and, to my eye, the most beautiful. It arrives in 

 Central Ohio about the first of May. In the northern marshes it is a common summer resident; in 

 other localities its presence is quite irregular, some seasons being plentiful about small grassy ponds, 

 and then again not seen in such localities for several years. I have counted as many as twenty birds on 

 the 10th of June, about a pond of six or seven acres in extent. Generally it is one of the shyest of birds 

 and is but seldom seen. Frequently, in tramping through the Montezuma marshes at the foot of 

 Cayuga Lake in New York State, where it breeds in the greatest abundance, I have found as many as 

 ten or a dozen nests, all containing eggs, but have failed to see a single bird; and during many years 

 experience among these marshes I have never seen more than eight or ten birds altogether. On the 

 other hand I found two birds upon their nests last year in a little pond in Central Ohio. It is probable 

 that two broods are frequently reared by a single pair during the summer. 



LOCALITY : 



A dense swampy tract overgrown with cat-tails and the various coarse swamp grasses, is the favorite 

 breeding place of this Bittern. But the nest may be occasionally found in any small marshy piece of 

 ground with aquatic reeds and grasses. Dr. F. W. Langdon found the Least Bittern abundant near Port 

 Clinton, Ottawa County, Ohio, in 1880. Writing on the "Summer Birds of a Northern Ohio Marsh," he 

 savs of this species: "Quite common, frequenting and nesting among the 'deer-tongue' and 'saw-grass' 

 at a considerable distance from land. Judging from the depth of water in situations where they were 

 most numerous, we inferred that they spent much of their time clinging to tall aquatic grasses, and 

 walking about on the lily 'pads' in search of food." In my experience the Least Bittern prefers to nest 

 along the edge of the marsh, as indeed do most water birds, and even at times a nest is to be seen in 

 a tussock of grass some yards inland. 



POSITION : 



Usually the nest is placed near the surface of the water in a cluster of reeds or a tussock of grass, 

 and sometimes also, it is said, in a bush, though I have never seen one in this position. Many nests 

 which I have found have been floating, a few have rested on the ground. 



MATERIALS : 



Contrary to the statements of many authors, sticks are seldom if ever used in the construction of the 

 nest. Generally it is composed entirely of dry reed-stalks, lined with thin flat leaves, and possibly inter- 

 mixed with coarse grass. Many of the reeds are often bent down and fastened together without being- 

 broken, so as to form a sort of platform on which the nest proper rests. Fresh green stalks are seldom 



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