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Least Bittern 
The home of the Least Bittern is in the fresh-water marshes. Rarely, 
along the Atlantic coast and down along the Gulf of Mexico, I have seen 
the bird in salt-water marshes, but all search for its nest in these localities 
has been in vain. One characteristic of the Herons is their habit of 
coming together in numbers for the purpose of laying their eggs. Very 
often hundreds, or even thousands, of several different species will be 
thus congregated. The bird we are discussing, however, does not have 
this habit. In a growth of buttonwood bushes, in the shallow waters of 
a small Florida lake, I once found five nests of the Least Bittern within a 
few yards of one another, but such occurrences, in my opinion, are rare. 
Usually, the birds seem to prefer to be alone. On a few occasions I have 
found them nesting in bushes in the midst of a colony of Boat-tailed 
Crackles, but I suspected that they chose the locality because it seemed 
especially suitable for their nesting purposes and not because they sought 
the society of their large black neighbors. 
Enemies the Least Bittern certainly has. Water-snakes capture the 
young and perhaps at times eat the eggs. Muskrats, found in nearly 
every marsh, are to be dreaded, as are Minks and Hawks. Fish Crows 
are ever on the lookout for eggs, and perhaps this is 
the reason why the birds bend downward the tops of 
the rushes to shield the eggs from above. The drain- 
ing of marshes, which thus destroys their feeding and 
nesting places, has caused these birds to become scarce in many parts of 
the country. 
The Least Bittern ranges over a large part of North America, being 
found in summer from Oregon and the southern Canadian provinces 
southward throughout the United States, West Indies, Central America 
and northern South America. When winter comes, the birds in Canada 
and the United States retire southward, and none are known to pass the 
winter north of the region immediately bordering the Gulf Coast. 
Enemies 
to 
Avoid 
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