AMERICAN BITTERN. 453 



inches long ; the upper mandible, black ; the lower, greenish 

 yellow ; lores and eyelids, yellow ; irides, bright yellow ; upper 

 part of the head, flat, and remarkably depressed ; the plumage 

 there is of a deep blackish brown, long behind and on the 

 neck, the general colour of which is a yellowish brown shaded 

 with darker ; this long plumage of the neck the bird can throw 

 forward at will when irritated, so as to give him a more for- 

 midable appearance ; throat, whitish, streaked with deep brown ; 

 from the posterior and lower part of the auriculars, a broad 

 patch of deep black passes diagonally across the neck, a dis- 

 tinguished characteristic of this species ; the back is deep 

 brown, barred and mottled with innumerable specks and 

 streaks of brownish yellow ; quills, black, with a leaden gloss, 

 and tipt with yellowish brown ; legs and feet, yellow, tinged 

 with pale green ; middle claw, pectinated ; belly, light yellow- 

 ish brown, streaked with darker ; vent, plain ; thighs, spriukled 

 on the outside with grains of dark brown ; male and female 

 nearly alike, the latter somewhat less. According to Bewick, 

 the tail of the European bittern contains only ten feathers ; 

 the American species has invariably twelve. The intestines 

 measured five feet six inches in length, and were very little 

 thicker than a common knitting-needle ; the stomach is usually 

 filled with fish or frogs.* 



This bird, when fat, is considered by many to be excellent 

 eating. 



* I have taken an entire water-rail from the stomach of the European 

 bittern. — Ed. 



