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ALTRICIAL GRALLATORES — HERODIONES. 
The eggs of this species are in size and shape not unlike those of the Night 
Heron — an oblong oval. Their shade of greenish blue is lighter and duller, and 
the proportion of green is less marked. They vary considerably in size. Two in my 
collection, taken by Dr. Bryant in Florida, measure, one, 2.10 by 1.49 inches, the 
other, 1.94 by 1.44 inches, averaging 2.02 by 1.46 inches. According to Mr. Moore, 
the number of eggs in a set is not limited to three, as stated by Audubon. That 
author mentions that in Louisiana, in May, 1867, he found five eggs in a nest, and 
in the following year one with even six, and others with five or four. In Florida, 
April 28, he found one with five and another with four eggs. Mr. Moore discredits 
the statement that this Heron has two broods in a season, and does not believe the 
account given by Audubon of its moving from one heronry to another in order to 
nest and breed. 
Mr. Ridgway found this Heron breeding very abundantly at Monteur’s Pond, in 
Knox Co., Indiana, where it was much the most numerous species of the family. 
Many dozens of pairs had their nests in tall sweet-gum and other trees, in a very 
wet piece of “ bottoms,” along one edge of the pond. A female was shot from her 
nest, and in her oviduct was found an egg ready for ejection. A few hours after- 
ward another female was shot from the same nest ! In the similar wet bottoms of 
Coffee Creek, in Wabash Co., Illinois, quite a colony of these birds was also found 
nesting, the nests being placed at various heights in white oak and other trees. 
Genus BOTAURTIS, Stephens. 
Botaurus, Stephens, Shaw’s Gen. Zool. XI. ii. 1819, 592 (type, Ardca stellar is, Linn.). 
Butor, Swains. Classif. B. II. 1837, 354 (same type). 
Gen. Char. — Medium-sized, or rather large. Herons, with the plumage much mottled or 
striped with different shades of brown and ochraceous (the plumage essentially the same in both 
B. lentiginosus. 
sexes and at all seasons) ; the plumage, particularly of the lower neck in front, exceedingly soft 
and full, and destitute of any ornamental plumes ; the bill comparatively small and short (shorter 
