ARDEINiE. ARDEA. 
263 
• Bitterns. Bill considerably longer than the head, stout, tapering, 
compressed, with the upper outline slightly curved ; leos of moderate 
length, bare part of tibia short ; neck thick ; body exceedingly com- 
pressed; feathers of the neck elongated and curved backwards. 
Trachea and bronchi wider. 
367. 3. Ardea lentiginosa, Swains. American Bittern. 
Plate CCCXXXVIL Male and Female. 
Feathers of the head and occiput elongated and loose ; taii of ten 
feathers ; bill and feet dull yellowish-green ; upper part of head 
brownish-grey ; a streak of pale buff on the eye ; cheek and an oblique 
band to the middle of the neck light brownish-yellow, beneath which 
a dusky brown band from the base of the lower mandible, continuous 
with a gradually enlarged band of black running along the sides of the 
neck ; upper parts yellowish-brown, patched, mottled, freckled, and 
barred with dark-brown ; most of the quills deep greyish-blue, tipped 
with light reddish-brown ; fore part of neck white above, yellowish- 
white beneath, the throat with a middle longitudinal line of yellowish- 
brown spots ; on the rest of the neck each feather with a light brown 
central mark edged with darker ; the rest of the lower parts dull yel- 
lowish-white, most of the feathers marked like those on the neck. 
Female similar, but with the upper part of the head reddish-brown. 
Male, 27, 45, Female, 26i, 42^. 
Winter resident in the Floridas. Migrates over most part of the 
United States. Not seen in Kentucky, Abundant in Texas. Migra- 
tory. 
American Bittern, Ardea minor, Wils. Amer, Orn. v. vii. p. 35. 
Ardea minor, Bonap. Syn. p. 307. 
American Bittern, Ardea lentiginosa, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer. v. ii, p. 374. 
American Bittern, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 60. 
American Bittern, Ardea minor, AuD. Orn. Biog. v. iv. p. 296. 
368. 4. Ardea exilis, Wils. Least Bittern. 
Plate CCX. Male, Female, and Young, 
Bill rather slender ; feathers on the crown and occiput somewhat 
elongated and loose. Male with the upper part of the head, back, and 
tail, glossy greenish-black, some of the lateral feathers edged with 
white ; sides of head and hind part of neck light chestnut ; wing- 
coverts brownish-yellow ; quills purplish-grey, tipped with yellowish- 
brown, inner secondaries broadly margined with light chestnut, of 
which colour also are the secondary coverts and edge of the wing at 
the flexure ; throat and fore neck reddish-white, with a series of red- 
dish-brown spots ; fore part of breast, under the elongated feathers, 
blackish-brown ; the rest of the lower parts reddish- white ; tibia red- 
dish-brown in front. Female smaller, with the colours duller, the 
