148 
AMERICAN BITTERN. 
description underneath, is taken from a skin sent 
to us from South Carolina. In habits, as described 
by Wilson and Audubon, the species of America 
closely resemble those of the Common Bittern. 
Length of the skin, from the point of the bill to 
the end of the tail, rather more than two feet ; bill 
to the rictus four inches, being longer proportionally, 
more slender and heron-like than in the true Bit- 
terns. Length of the naked space on the tibia? one 
inch ; of tarsus three and three quarters ; of the 
centre toe, including the claw, four inches. The 
ground colour of the plumage, except the wings, is 
ochreous- yellow, on the crown being dark chest- 
nut, changing into that colour; on the neck the 
centres of the feathers are pale sienna-brown, and 
they want the “ rayed” appearance of dark and 
light seen in the common bird ; on the back and 
wings the markings, although somewhat similar, are 
much divided ; tho throat is white, a stripe of the 
pale ochreous running along its centre, and, on the 
lower parts, the general colour is considerably paler 
than above ; each feather is marked on the centre 
with a dash of sienna-brown, which is bordered and 
minutely freckled with brown. The quills, instead 
of being irregularly barred and blotched with pale 
reddish-brown, as in the Common Bittern, are of a 
uniform dull brown, pale reddish towards the edge 
of the inner web, where the dark colour is shaded 
off by minute freckles ; the tail is sienna-brown, 
freckled minutely with blackish-brown. Such is 
the general description of an American bird, but 
