74 
ALTRICIAL GRALLATORES — HERODIONES. 
The Least Bittern has an extended distribution, being found very nearly through- 
out the United States, and only not found, so far as we are aware, in the more 
northerly and eastern portions. It has not been met with by Mr. Boardman near 
Calais, it is not included by Mr. Verrill as a bird of Oxford County, and is men- 
tioned as rare even in Southern Maine, and is classed as very rare by Mr. Allen, 
near Springfield, Mass. Like all nocturnal birds, and more especially those species 
that shelter themselves in the day-time among the rank grass and rushes, it 
is probably by no means so rare, in many places, as has been supposed. It feeds 
exclusively in the night-time, and is rarely seen flying during the day. It is not 
uncommon in eastern Massachusetts, breeding in Fresh Pond marshes, where 
Mr. Wm. Brewster has met with it both in May and in July. Giraud includes it 
among the birds of Long Island, where it is usually found hidden in the tall grass 
and reeds, along the margins of freshwater streams. A few were secured among 
the salt meadows near Babylon, and on the Hanover Meadow near Pine Brook. It 
has also been occasionally found on the banks of the Hackensack. Specimens are 
recorded as having been taken near the city of Brooklyn, and others in a swamp 
near Fort Hamilton. In the latter place young birds, still unable to fly, were cap- 
tured. In the Western States it is much more abundant, and in Canada, especially 
in the neighborhood of the Great Lakes. Mr. Mcllwraith mentions it as a common 
summer resident near Hamilton, and Mr. Kumlien has found it breeding in abun- 
dance around Lake Koskonong, in Wisconsin. It appears to be resident in Texas 
and in Northeastern Mexico. Mr. Dresser met with it, in July and August, in 
the neighborhood of Matamoras, and occasionally saw it in the vicinity of San 
Antonio. Mr. Salvin mentions it as found in Guatemala, but whether as a winter 
visitant or a resident, he does not state. He found it both at Duenas and at 
Coban. 
It is also found in several of the West India Islands. In Cuba it is given by 
Dr. Gundlach as a resident throughout the year, and its breeding is inferred. It 
is mentioned by Gosse as among the birds of Jamaica, where it is not unfrequently 
seen dodging about the edges of the tall reeds of the morasses, or among the rank 
sedgy grass that borders the streams. When alarmed, it does not usually fly, but 
darts into the rushy covert, where the thinness of its form enables it to make its 
way with ease. When surprised in an open place it crouches, as if expecting to 
escape observation. In its stomach are found small fishes and Crustacea. In 
Jamaica it is called, according to March, the “ Tortoise-shell Bittern.” Leotaud 
names it as one of the birds of Trinidad ; but how common it is in that island he 
was not able to state. It keeps close among the reeds which cover the flooded 
regions, and is probably quite abundant ; although rarely seen, on account of the 
difficulty of discovering it in the midst of its retreat. It occasionally approaches 
the edges of narrow watercourses, to fish for the small fry on which it feeds. Its 
flight is very feeble, and not well sustained. It nests in Trinidad, and has been 
observed there at all seasons of the year. 
Dr. Cooper speaks of it as common among the great fresh marshes of the interior 
Rump, upper tail-coverts and tail, uniform plumbeous-black. Anterior and outer lesser wing-coverts, 
inner secondaries (outer webs)-and greater wing-coverts, uniform cinnamon-rufous; posterior, lesser, and 
all of the middle wing-coverts, light grayish buff (much paler than in cxilis) ; tinged with deeper buff, 
the grayish tints minutely freckled. Primary-coverts and remiges slaty plumbeous, tipped with light 
cinnamon-rufous. 
Wing, 4.60; culmen, 1.68; depth of bill, through nostril, .32; tarsus, 1.15; middle toe, 1.12; 
inner toe, .98 ; outer, .95 ; hallux, .58. 
