the AMERICAN BITTERN. 
95 
• 1 . Kill- <-)n if =5 first arrival at its breeding* 
perches in a tree, but on hi-nnch until the reeds 
grounds it is said to roost on ’lanch unUl^^^^^^ 
have grown high enough to con , ■ . , 
eater, fish six inches long, cels t'^^e^that^l p,i„cipal 
water-rat, have been ^^ound ^ water-insects of all 
"'t;, -Composed of dr, rushes, placed o„ the ground in a 
^”:;"Le to free in numh^ hro.nis^Hve 
colour, with a faint greenis t'Pj '' yellowish-brown 
inches; diam., 55- 
n. the americ.vn bittern. 
botaurus lentiginosus. 
Ardea kntigmosa, Montagu, ^iwj- O” (1852) ; Dresser, 
Boiaurus knligmosus, Ma g. d o\ . p, Q U. List Br. B. p. 
h" 887setbbl, r B *i'i 7 50 °('.S 84 ) 1 
Jd Y,?r t R H- p ’-3 (> 8 * 4 ); Id- Mon Br B. p. 3,3 
ffsSoL Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. B. part xxiv. (1893). 
CE.acters.-The wavy pluina^^^^^^^^^^^^ * 
cTsl S 'rSciS!! ?al V Jitor like the present bird, *an to state 
Ethe AiSSn Bittern can always be distinguished by i s 
uiltS^r head, and by the -fo-^JSelVr 
coverts and quills, which are uni orm " J ^ \i - 2- tail a '6 ■ 
Total length, 28 inches; culmen, 3-1; '«nS> “ o ^ 
tarsus, 3’7S. 
^ .0. ■ Tt Is a curious fact that a common 
No^rimeSn S like this Bittern f Jave 
described by Colonel Montagu from an English specimen which 
Surr^d iXrsetsW in 1804. It is an accidenta 
Great Britain, and has occurred miiny times. ^ 
Cornwall was shown to me at the Biitish Museum y 
