386 AMERICAN BITTERN. 
There can be little doubt that many, and probably most of our visitors, 
have been aided on their passage by being able to rest on the yards 
of vessels ; especially on those of steamers, the square-sails of which 
are seldom set, so that a bird might easily remain, unobserved and 
undisturbed, by day as well as by night, while each twenty-four hours 
would find it, even on cargo-boats, some 300 miles further on its 
way across. It could probably exist without food for far longer than 
is necessary for such a transit; moreover, if hungry, or dislodged 
from its ship, its long slender feet would enable it to alight on 
patches of sargasso and other masses of floating sea-weeds found on 
the line of the Gulf Stream, and among these it would find small 
fish, crustaceans, and other sustenance, until another vessel passed 
by. Doubtless numbers perish for one that reaches our shores. 
An exhausted example of this species was captured by dogs at 
Egedesminde in Greenland, in 1869 ; and in America its range on 
the MacKenzie River extends to the Arctic Ocean, though the bird 
is probably rare so far north. South of the 58th parallel in the 
Fur-countries, it is found, as a breeding-species, down to Texas ; 
while on its extended and bold autumnal migration it is a regular 
and sometimes an abundant visitor to the Bermudas, where it also 
occurs, though with less frequency, on its passage northward in 
March. In winter it visits the West Indian Islands and Guatemala. 
When situated on dry ground, the nest is a very slight structure of 
reeds and grass; but in places liable to inundations it is sometimes 
considerably elevated. The eggs, 4-7 in number, are equally 
obtuse at either end, and are of a uniform drab colour: measure- 
ments 1°9 by 1°45 in. This Bittern usually feeds on frogs, lizards, 
and small mammals, but it is almost omnivorous. The note of the 
male in the early part of the breeding-season is a deep choking 
croak, resembling the noise made by driving a stake in boggy soil, 
whence its common name of “Stake-” or “ Post-driver.” 
This species resembles our Old World bird in general plumage, 
but is smaller in size ; its bill, legs and feet are more slender; the 
feathers of the upper parts are more finely vermiculated ; and the 
primaries are uniform leaden-brown. Length about 24 in.; wing 
11 in. The young have a ruddier tinge and coarser mottlings. 
A specimen of the American Butorides virescens, said to have 
been shot in Cornwall in October 1889, was exhibited at the 
Linnean Society in April 1890, by Sir C. Sawle (Cf Zool. 1890, 
p. 105 and p. 181). 
