34 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 



Family— ARDEID^. 



The American Bittern. 



^ Botaurus lentiginosus, MoNTAGU. 



THIS American bird was, strange to say, first described as new to science by 

 Montagu, in bis " Ornithological Dictionary," in 1813, from a specimen 

 killed in England. Over a dozen examples in all have been recorded, in the 

 autumn and winter, from various parts of the British Islands. Indeed the 

 American Bittern makes its appearance more frequently within our borders than 

 many other Herodians from even the Continent of Burope. The circumstances 

 under which it has been taken, or observed, leave no doubt, as in the case of the 

 American Green Heron, that Botaurus lentiginosus does itself accomplish this long 

 journey across the Atlantic, undertaken, not improbably, through having been 

 driven across in front of the gales which prevail from the west at that season, or 

 having lost its bearings during its migration flight, it has held on its misguided 

 course east instead of southward, till it reached our shores ; those that arrive 

 being the survivors, probably, of many others who have perished on the way. The 

 American Bittern has never yet reached the continent of Europe. Once again on 

 land it seems to rest content with its "farthest east"; but they are not allowed 

 long time for consideration or rest, for somebody with a gun very soon detects its 

 stranger wings and — shoots it. 



The American Bittern closely resembles our own Common Bittern. In general 

 colour it is ochraceous buflf, the plumage being freckled with brown and blackish ; 

 but the frecklings are much finer than in the European species. Down the side 

 of the neck from the gape there runs a black stripe. The region behind the eye, 

 which is reddish brown in Botaurus stellaris, is ochraceous buif. The neck and 

 under side are tawny white, the feathers striped with brown ; the chin and throat 

 white, with a dusky ochraceous median streak. The crown of the head is uniform 

 dark brown, not black, and a stripe over the eye yellowish white. The wing 

 feathers are uniform slaty, or greenish black, not barred and tipped with rufous 

 as are the primary coverts. Bill, legs, and feet greenish yellow. The feathers at 

 the base of the neck are not so long or full as they are in the Common Bittern. 



