BITTERNS 



fl90) Botaurus lentiginosus 



(Mnntagu) (Lat., a bittern; freckled). 



BITTERN; STAKE-DRIVER. 

 Plumage as shown, much mottled 

 with brown, black, buff and white. 

 A broad glossy-black stripe on the 

 side of the neck, very prominent on 

 males, less so on females and inclined 

 to brownish on young birds. Very 

 variable in size. Av. L., 28.00; 

 W., 11.50; Tar., 3.50; B., 3.00. 

 Ncsl — A grass-lined hollow, usually 

 on hummocks in bogs or swamps; 

 three to five brownish-drab eggs, 

 1.9s .X 1.50. 



Range — North America. Breeds 

 from N. Car,, Kan. and southern 

 Cal. north to Ungava, Keewatin 

 and B. C. Winters from Va., Ohio 

 Valley and Cal. southward. 



Family ARDELDiE. Herons, Bitterns, etc. 



A large family of \vaders, agreeing externally in having 

 long, pointed bills, naked lores (rest of head fully feathered), 

 long necks, long legs, and long slender toes, the hind one 

 of which leaves the foot on a level with the front ones. In 

 flight, all birds of this family carry the neck folded so that 

 the head comes back to the shoulders. 



BITTERNS are interesting, dead-grass colored waders 

 that fly up ahead of us as we approach ponds, or traverse 

 marshes. More often, however, we pass them by unnoticed, 

 for they adopt the cunning trick of palming themselves off 

 for some of the surrounding sticks or rushes by posing 

 motionless, with body erect and neck stretched at full length, 

 terminated by the sharp bill pointing toward the zenith. 

 It requires very sharp eyes to discover a Bittern under these 

 conditions. 



Not less difficult to see are the four brownish eggs that 

 are laid in the midst of tussocks of grass. If we suddenly 



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