THE LEAST BITTERN. 397 



three brownish-drab eggs, measuring 1. 90-'S. 00 X 1.38-1.40, 

 pointed ovate; incubation being well begun. I found no 

 other nests or birds of the kind in the vicinity. In my 

 recent studies on St. Clair Flats, where the nests were very 

 common, I found some nests built of the dried leaves of the 

 cat-tails, placed on the water and anchored among the 

 sedges, after the manner of the Coots, while others consisted 

 merely of the tops of the marsh-grass matted and flattened 

 over the water, so slight and flat that one wondered how 

 they could retain the eggs and sustain the weight of the 

 bird. The nests were not found in community. The eggs, 

 generally four, sometimes five, some 1.95 x 1.39, are a brown- 

 ish or greenish-drab, generally quite dark, and always dis- 

 tinguishable from any other egg. The nest is well hidden 

 in the tall grass or sedges, and the bird, sitting with her bill 

 pointing almost straight up, is loth to rise, sometimes almost 

 allowing one to touch her. The long down, in patches on the 

 young, is brownish-yellow, obscurely streaked with brown, 

 and as it is quite long and plumose, standing straight up 

 on the head and back, the little creatures are odd 

 enough. 



The Bittern ranges over all North America to 58° or 60°, 

 breeding from the Middle States northward, and wintering 

 in the Southern States and beyond. Dr. Coues found it at 

 Washington in January. It breeds abundantly in some- parts 

 of Maine. Reaching New York and Massachusetts in April, 

 it leaves in October. It is a good deal smaller than the 

 European Bittern, but bears quite a general resemblance to 

 it in color. 



THE LEAST BITTERN. 



I continue my rambles among the sedges. What is that 

 yonder, climbing up the cat-tails after the manner of a 

 Rail ? Having captured a moth, it settles back into the 



