182 AEDEID^. 



{Ferrari-Perez ^'^),Tehuanteipec^^ (Sumichrast) ; Guatemala {Constancia% Lake 

 of Duenas (0.-9.8 13), Coban {0. S.^), Atitlan {Bichardsm^^) ; Panama, Lion 

 Hill Station {M'Leannan^ i3)__West Indies i^. 



The Least Bittern of North America represents the Little Bittern (A. minuta) of 

 Europe. It is recorded as a resident in many parts of Canada, and is found in suitable 

 localities throughout the whole of the United States. A. exilis probably breeds in 

 Central America, as the young birds obtained by us in Guatemala in September had 

 no doubt been reared in that country, since we procured both adult and immature 

 examples. The species nests in Cuba and probably also in Jamaica, but occurs on the 

 Bermudas only during migration, and doubtless many individuals visit Central America 

 in the winter season. 



The fact that A. eocilis is a migrant proves, as Dr. Brewer has pointed out, that the bird 

 must possess some strong powers of flight ; but, as a rule, it is not easily flushed, and 

 prefers to save itself by running through the tangled rushes and herbage which surround 

 its favourite haunts. Through these the bird threads its way with ease, and is also 

 equally at home among the sedges or the twigs of trees overhanging the water, and 

 though of a sluggish disposition during the day, it is active enough at night. This 

 smaU Bittern appears to be less fond of fish than the larger kinds of Herons, its food 

 consisting of snails, small frogs and lizards, with occasionally small rodents. 



The nest is a frail structure of dry reeds, placed at a foot or two above the water 

 and supported by the surrounding rushes. The eggs are from four to seven in number, 

 white, slightly tinged with green. 



BOTAUEUS. 



Botaums, Briss. Om. v. p. 444 (1760) ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxvi. p. 59 (1898). 



The members of the genus Botaurus are large birds, remarkable for their mottled 

 plumage and for the large frill which envelops each side of the neck. The bUl is 

 serrated, and the culmen is about the same length as the inner toe and claw. The 

 middle toe is long, exceeding, with its claw, the length of the tarsus. The hind claw 

 is very strong and greatly developed, being nearly equal to the hind toe itself in length. 



Five species of Bitterns are known, of which two are strictly American, both occurring 

 within our limits. 



1. Sotaurns leutigiuosus. 



Ardea lentiffinosus, Montagu, Om. Diet. Suppl.' 



Botaurus lentiffinosus, Stephens, in Shaw's Gen. Zool. xi. pt. 2, p. 596, t. 46 ^; Scl. P. Z. S. 1856 



p. 310'; 1859, p. .369*; Salv. Ibis, 1860, p. 194'; 1866, p. 196 = ; Lawr. Ann. Lye. N.y! 



vii. p. 478'; Ferrari-Perez, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. ix. p. 170'; Jouy, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. 



