HERONS AND BITTERNS 221 
@, Wing under 10°00. 
d} Wing-coverts green. .... 201. Litttn Grezn Huron. 
e&. Wing-coverts rufous-chestnut and buff. 
e4. Underparts buffy, more or less streaked. 
191. Least Birrern. 
e, Underparts rufous-chestnut. 
191.1 Cory’s Least BITTERN. 
2. Crown streaked. 
- Wing under 10°00; upperparts greenish 201. Lirrte Green Heron. 
B. Wing over 10°00; upperparts brownish or blackish brown streaked 
with white. 
a. Upperparts light brown; outer edge of primaries reddish. 
202. BLack-crowNED Nicur Heron (Im.). 
6. Back dark brown; crown nearly black with white streaks; prima- 
ries dark slate-color. 
203. YELLOW-CROWNED NicHT Heron (Im.). 
190. Botaurus lentiginosus (Montag.). AMERICAN BiTTERN. Ads.— 
A glossy black streak on each side of upper neck; top of head and back of 
neck bluish slate, more or less washed with buffy; back brown, bordered 
and irregularly mottled with buffy, and buffy ochraceous, wing-coverts 
similarly marked, but ground color grayer; underparts creamy buff, the 
feathers all widely streaked with buffy brown, which is finely speckled with 
buffy and narrowly margined by brownish gray. Im.—Similar, but buffy 
pre ueke deeper and more ochraceous. L., 28°00; W., 10°50; Tar., 3°50; 
. 3°00. 
Range.—N. A. Breeds from cen. B. C., s. Mackenzie, cen. Keewatin, 
s. Ungava, and N. F., s. tos. Calif., n. Ariz., Kans., the Ohio Valley and N. 
C., and less frequently in s. U. 8: : winters from ‘Calif., Ariz. s. Tex., the 
Ohio Valley, and Va. s. to Cuba and Guatemala, and casually to the Bahamas, 
Porto Rico, Jamaica, and Great Britain. 
Washington, rather] common W. V., July 15-Apl. 30. Long Island, 
common T. V., Apl. 16-May 5; Aug. 4— Dec. 11. Ossining, rare S. R., pl. 
11-Oct. 5. Cambridge, commen T. V., breeds locally, Apl. 15-Oct. 20. N. 
Ohio, tolerably common S. R., Apl. 1-Oct. 1. we Ellyn, fairly common 
S. R., Apl. 9-Nov. 1. SE. aes common §. R., . 8. 
Nest, of grasses, etc., on the ground i in eciee Egos, 3-5, pale olive- 
buff, 1°90 x 1°45. Date, Cambridge, May 5; Pewaukee, Wise. og May 23. 
The Bittern makes its home in extensive grassy meadows with 
plenty of water, but in the season of migration may be found and 
heard “booming” in smaller and more accessible swampy places. Like 
the other members of its family, it excels in standing still, and will hold 
its head erect and motionless amid the tall grass till the watcher tires 
of looking and pronounces the suspicious object nothing but a stick 
after all. The Bittern’s fame rests upon its vocal performance, or 
“boom.” This is sometimes exactly like the working of an old-fashioned 
wooden pump, and sometimes—even with the same bird—like the 
driving of a stake in a bog. It can be heard for a long distance. The 
performance is best witnessed in spring, while the grass is still low. 
That it is not so very difficult at that season to steal a march upon 
the bird may perhaps be considered as established on the testimony 
of a man who has never lived near a Bittern meadow, and yet has 
watched the performance at much length and at near range on several 
occasions. His first experience of this kind is described somewhat 
fully in The Auk, Vol. VI., page 1. The strange notes are delivered 
