GREEN HERON. 99 



well as along our salt marshes ; and every where about the muddy 

 shores of our mill ponds, ereeks and large rivers. 



The Green Bittern begins to build about the twentieth of 

 April; sometimes in single pairs in swampy woods; often in com- 

 panies; and not unfrequently in a kind of association with the Qua- 

 birdsy or Night Herons. The nest is fixed among the branches of 

 the trees; is constructed wholly of small sticks, lined with finer 

 twigs, and is of considerable size, tho loosely put together. The 

 female lays four eggs, of the common oblong form, and of a pale 

 light blue color. The young do not leave the nest until able to 

 fly; and for the first season, at least, are destitute of the long- 

 pointed plumage on the back; the lower parts are also lighter, 

 and the white on the throat broader. During the whole summer, 

 and until late in autumn, these birds are seen in our meadows and 

 marshes, 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 vinaceous 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 co- 

 vered 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 yellowish white; legs and feet yellow, tinged before 

 with green, the skin of these thick and moveable; belly ashy 

 brown; irides bright orange; crested head very dark glossy green. 

 The female, as I have particularly observed in numerous instances, 

 differs in nothing as to color from the male; neither of them re- 

 ceive the long feathers on the back during the first season. 



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

 lect, at first surprised me. On shooting and wounding one, I car- 



