398 green heron. 



but never remain during winter in any part of the United 

 States. 



The green bittern is eighteen inches long, and twenty-five 

 inches in extent ; bill black, lighter below, and yellow at the 

 base ; chin, and narrow streak down the throat, yellowish 

 white ; neck, dark vinaceoos red ; back, covered with very 

 long, tapering, pointed feathers, of a hoary green, shafted with 

 white, on a dark green ground ; the hind part of the neck is 

 destitute of plumage, that it may be the more conveniently 

 drawn in over the breast, but is covered with the long feathers 

 of the throat and sides of the neck, that enclose it behind ; 

 wings and tail, dark glossy green, tipt and bordered with yel- 

 lowish white ; legs and feet, yellow, tinged before with green, 

 the skin of these thick and movable ; belly, ashy brown ; hides, 

 bright orange ; crested head, very dark glossy green. The 

 female, as I have particularly observed in numerous instances, 

 differs in nothing as to colour from the male ; neither of 

 them receive the long feathers on the back during the first 

 season. 



There is one circumstance attending this bird which, I re- 

 collect, at first surprised me. On shooting and wounding one, 

 I carried it some distance by the legs, which were at first 

 yellow ; but on reaching home, I perceived, to my surprise, 

 that they were red. On letting the bird remain some time 

 undisturbed, they again became yellow, and I then discovered 

 that the action of the hand had brought a flow of blood into 

 iheru, and produced the change of colour. I have remarked 

 the same in those of the night heron. 



