FAM. XLV. HERONS, EGRETS, ETC. 



265 



2. Least Bittern (191. Ardetta exllis). — A bird formed simi- 

 larly to the last and with similar habits, but much smaller. It is 

 a buffy and chestnut- 

 colored bittern with 

 the crested crown, 

 back, and tail glossy 

 black and a patch on 

 the side of the breast 

 blackish. The female 

 is similar but the 

 crown and back are 

 a purplish - chestnut 

 rather than black, and 

 the under parts are 

 darker and streaked 



with brownish. Least Bittern 



Length, 13; wing, 4-^ (4J-5J); tail, 2; tarsus. If; culmen, If Tem- 

 perate Nortli America ; breeding north to Ontario and wintering from 

 Florida south to the "West Indies and Brazil. 



3. Cory's Least Bittern (191-1. Ardetta nedxena). — A bird 

 like the last in everything but color and size. It is a bittern 

 with reddish-chestnut on the breast and under parts as well as 

 on the sides of the head and throat and the wing coverts. The 

 crown, back, and tail are black, with a distinct green gloss. 

 This species has the under tail coverts a dull black, the last 

 has them washed with buffy. Only a few specimens have 

 been observed, and those, curiously, in widely separated local- 

 ities. 



Length, 11; wing, i\; tarsus, 1^ ; culmen, If. Florida, Ontario, and 

 Michigan. 



4. Great White Heron (192. Ardea occidentdlis). — An exceed- 

 ingly large, southern (Florida), entirely white heron with (in 

 the breeding season) long, narrow, stiffened feathers on the 

 lower neck and back and two narrow plumes on the head. 

 This is a larger bird than the American egret (No. 7) and 



