THE LEAST BITTERN. 465 



whack-a-whack, goes the bird, and the dullest imagination can picture the 

 stake sinking deeper into the mud with every stroke. 



The nest is an unpretentious affair, a grass-lined depression on the 

 surface of some tiny island, high and dry, or a bed of reeds and coarse 

 grasses, or even sticks, placed anywhere about the swamp, under cover of 

 the protecting vegetation. Sometimes the nests are built in shallow water. 



No. 209. 



LEAST BITTERN. 



A. O. U. No. 191. Ardetta exilis (Gmel.). 



Description. — Adult male : Top of head, back, scapulars, and tail shining 

 black with faint greenish reflections ; sides of head and neck pale rufous, deepening 

 on back of neck to rich chestnut ; wing-coverts, bordering the black, brownish buff ; 

 the greater coverts and tertials broadly tipped with chestnut-rufous, and the inner 

 primaries and secondaries narrowly; under parts whitish, clearest on chin and 

 sides of throat and lower belly, streaked with buify on throat, fore-neck, chest, 

 and flanks; dark brown patches on sides of breast, sometimes almost meeting in 

 front ; bill pale yellow, blackening on culmen ; iris yellow ; legs greenish in front, 

 yellow behind; toes yellow. Adult female: Similar, but dark brown rather than 

 black on top of head ; black of back entirely replaced by glossy rufous-brown, the 

 scapulars margined on outer edge with white; buffy flank-streaks with sharp, 

 blackish shaft-lines, etc. Immature male : Similar to adult, but back and scapu- 

 lars washed with rufous, and feathers chestnut-tipped. Immature female : Like 

 adult female, but feathers of back and scapulars bordered with ochraceous, etc. 

 Length 12.00-14.00 (304.8-355.6) ; wing 4.60 (116.8) ; tail 1.60 (40.6) ; bill 1.75 

 (44.5) ; tarsus 1.60 (40.6) ; middle toe and claw 1.65 (41.9). 



Recognition Marks.- — Little Hawk size; black or dark brown and rufous 

 coloring above; slender form; marsh-skulking habits. The brownish buff area 

 on wing, and white or buffy of under tail-coverts serve to distinguish this form 

 from Ardetta neoxena (for which see Appendix A.). 



Nest, a raised and slightly hollowed platform of dead cat-tail leaves, etc., 

 surrounded by water or mud of swamp. Bggs, 3-5, rarely 6, pale bluish- or 

 greenish-white (often fading to white in collections). Av. size, 1.20 x .90 

 (30.6 X 22.9). 



General Range. — Temperate North America north to British Provinces, and 

 south to the West Indies and Brazil. Less common west of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains ; on the Pacific Coast north to northern California. 



Range in Ohio. — Not common summer resident, but sometimes locally abun- 

 dant. 



ONE is tempted to apply the epithet awkward to this bird as he is ordi- 

 narily noted in daylight. See him as he springs up suddenly from your 



