126 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



4J feet, wing 24.50-27.00, culmen 9.75-13.00, tarsus 11.25-12.50, middle toe 4.20-4.80. 

 Sab. Continental tropical America, north to Texas. 



189. M. americana Linn. Jabiru. 



Family ARDEID^.— The Herons. (Page 122.) 



Genera. 



a 1 . 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 Botaurince.) Botaurus. (Page 126.) 



a 2 . 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 Ardeince.) 



b 1 . Bill comparatively long and narrow, the culmen longer than the tarsus, and 



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.) 



b 2 . Bill comparatively short and thick, the culmen not longer than the tarsus, 



and 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 Stephens. (Page 126, pi. XXXIIL, figs. 1, 2.) 



Species. 



a 1 . Size large (wing more than 9.50) ; sexes alike in coloration, and young not ob- 

 viously different from adults. (Subgenus Botaurus.) 

 b 1 . 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. Sab. Whole of 

 temperate and tropical North America, south to Guatemala, Cuba, 

 Jamaica, and Bermudas ; occasional in British Islands. 



190. B. lentiginosus (Montag.). American Bittern. 



b 2 . 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 



