126 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 
43 feet, wing 24.50-27.00, culmen 9.75-13.00, tarsus 11.25-12.50, middle toe 4.20-4.80. 
Hab. Continental tropical America, north to Texas. 
189. M. americana Linn. Jabiru. 
Famiry ARDEID.—Tue Herons. (Page 122.) 
Genera. 
a. Tail-feathers 10, very short, scarcely more stiff than the coverts; outer toe de- 
cidedly shorter than the inner; claws lengthened, slightly curved. (Sub- 
family Botaurine.) .....ccecccoccccevceessecrecesseeseeecansees Botaurus. (Page 126.) 
a, Tail-feathers 12, more lengthened, and decidedly more stiff than the coverts; 
outer toe as long as or decidedly longer than the inner; claws comparatively 
short and strongly curved. (Subfamily Ardeine.) 
6. Bill comparatively long and narrow, the culmen equal to at least five times 
the greatest depth of the bill; plumage of the young not conspicuously 
different in pattern from that of the adult............ Ardea. (Page 128.) 
LV’. Bill comparatively short and thick, the culmen equal to not more than four 
times the greatest depth of the bill; plumage of the young conspicuously 
different in pattern from that of the adult..... Nycticorax. (Page 132.) 
Genus BOTAURUS Srepuens. (Page 126, pl. XX XIII, figs. 1, 2.) 
Species. 
a’, Size large (wing more than 9.50) ; sexes alike in coloration, and young not ob- 
viously different from adults. (Subgenus Botaurus.) 
b'. Neck plain ochraceous, or minutely freckled, the fore-neck striped with 
whitish ; wing-coverts minutely freckled with different shades of ochra- 
ceous and rusty; a blackish or dull grayish stripe on side of neck; 
lower parts distinctly striped. 
Prevailing color ochraceous, this much varied above by dense mottling 
and freckling of reddish brown and blackish; quills and their coverts 
slate-color, tipped with pale cinnamon; lower parts, including fore- 
neck, pale buff, striped with brown; length 24.00-34.00, wing 9.80- 
12.00, culmen 2.50-3.20, tarsus 3.10-3.85, middle toe 2.90-3.60. Eggs 
1.88 x 1.43, pale olive-drab, or pale isabella-color. Hab. Whole of 
temperate and tropical North America, south to Guatemala, Cuba, 
Jamaica, and Bermudas; occasional in British Islands. 
190. B. lentiginosus (Monraa.). American Bittern. 
&. Neck transversely barred with blackish and ochraceous; wing-coverts 
coarsely variegated, in irregular, somewhat “herring-bone,” pattern, 
with blackish on an ochraceous ground-color; no black or grayish stripe 
