BRITISH BIRDS. 
11 
THE LITTLE BITTERN 
f Ardea minuta^ Lin . — Le Blongios, Buff.) 
Is about the size of a Thrush. The bill from the 
tip to the brow is in length one inch and seven-eighths ; 
it is of a greenish yellow, dusky at the tip of the upper 
mandible, and the edges are jagged ; the feathers on 
the top of the head are elongated behind; these, as 
well as the back and tail are black, with greenish re- 
flections, and the secondary and primary quills are 
nearly the same ; the neck is long, the hinder part of 
it bare of feathers, but those from the fore part fall 
back and cover it ; the sides of the chin are dull white ; 
the cheeks incline to chesnut ; the neck, lesser coverts 
of the wings, lower part of the breast, and the thighs, 
are of a reddish buff; the greater coverts white; the 
c 
