374 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



Mr. Isham, which we have, on the authority of Temminck*, considered as a 

 representative of the young of the Great Heron. We have heard of no other 

 specimen having been obtained in that quarter, and can add nothing to Edwards's 

 description. 



[142.] 2. Ardea lentiginosa. (Montague.) American Bittern. 



Genus, Ardea, Linn. Sub-genus, Butor, Temm. ; Botaurus, Bonap. 



Bittern, from Hudson's Bay. Edw., pi. 13C. 



Botaurus Freti Hudsonis. Briss., v., p. 444, pi. 37, f- 1. 



Ardea Stellaris, varietas. Forst. Phil. Trans., lxii., p. 410, No. 38. 



Bittern. Penn. Arct. Zool., ii., p. 451, No. 357- 



Freckled Heron {Ardea lentiginosa'). Montag. Suppl. Orn. Diet., ann. 1813. 



American Bittern (Ardea minor). Wils., viii., p. 35, pi. 65, f. 3, ann. 1814. 



Ardea lentiginosa (American Bittern). Sab. Frankl. Journ., p. G83. 



Ardea (Botaurus) minor. Bonap. Syn., No. 234. 



Mockcohosew. Cree Indians. 



This is a common bird in the marshes and willow thickets of the interior of the 

 fur-countries up to the fifty-eighth parallel. Its loud booming, exactly resembling 

 that of the common Bittern of Europe, may be heard every summer evening, and 

 also frequently in the dayf . When disturbed, it utters a hollow, croaking cry. 

 It lays, according to Mr. Hutchins, four eggs, of a cinereous green colour. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a male, killed on the Saskatchewan plains, 8 July, 1827. 



Colour. — Top of the head dusky reddish-brown. Neck pale yellowish- brown, minutely 

 dotted with blackish-brown : a broad black stripe on the side of the neck from behind the ears. 

 Dorsal plumage dark umber-brown, barred and spotted with chestnut- and yellowish-browns : 

 long feathers on the shoulders broadly edged with brownish-yellow. Wing coverts brownish- 

 yellow, spotted and barred with umber. Spurious wing, greater quills, their coverts, and the 

 bases of the secondaries, greyish-black ; their tips, the lesser quills, and tail brownish-orange, 

 dotted with black. Chin and part of the throat whitish ; rest of the under plumage ochre- 

 yellow, unspotted on the vent, under tail coverts, and insides of the thighs ; marked on the 

 neck, breast, and belly with central stripes of mottled clove-brown ; flanks dusky, with light 

 irregular bars ; inside of the quills tinged with flesh-colour. Bill dark brown above ; on 

 the sides and beneath yellow. Legs greenish-yellow. Nails dark horn-colour. — Another 

 male, killed on the 27th of June, has the dorsal plumage and wing coverts mostly of dusky 

 blackish-brown, finely spotted with yellowish-brown, and none of the lively chestnut-brown 



* Manuel, ii., p. 566. 



+ Pennant's and Wilson's information on this point is erroneous. (See Append. Arct. Zool., p. 67-) Perhaps its 

 bellowing note is heard only in the breeding season. 



