GREEN HERON. 
51 
The green bittern begins to build about the 20th of 
April ; sometimes in single pairs, in swampy woods ; 
often in companies; and not unfrequently in a kind of 
association with the qua birds, or night herons. The 
nest is fixed among the branches of the trees ; is 
constructed wholly of small sticks, lined with finer 
twigs, and is of considerable size, though loosely put 
together. The female lays four eggs, of the common 
oblong form, and of a pale light blue colour. The 
young do not leave the nest until able to fly; and, 
for the first season, at least, are destitute of the long 
pointed plumage on the back ; the lower parts are also 
lighter, and the white on the throat broader. During 
the whole summer, and until late in autumn, these 
birds are seen in our meadows and marshes, but never 
remain during winter in any part of the United States. 
The green bittern is eighteen inches long, and twenty- 
five inches in extent ; bill, black, lighter below, and 
yellow at the base ; chin, and narrow streak down the 
throat, yellowish white ; neck, dark vinaceous red ; 
back, covered with very long, tapering, pointed feathers, 
of a hoary green, shafted with white, on a dark green 
ground; the hind part of the neck is destitute of 
plumage, that it may be the more conveniently drawn 
in over the breast, but is covered with the long feathers 
of the throat and sides of the neck, that enclose it 
behind ; wings and tail, dark glossy green, tipt and 
bordered with yelloAvish white ; legs and feet, yellow, 
tinged before with green, the skin of these thick and 
movable ; belly, ashy brown ; irides, bright orange ; 
crested head, very dark glossy green. The female, as 
F have particularly observed, in numerous instances, 
differs in nothing, as to colour, from the male ; neither 
of them receive the long feathers on the back during 
the first season. 
There is one circumstance attending this bird, which, 
I recollect, at first surprised me. On shooting ami 
wounding one, I carried it some distance b}^ the legs, 
which were at first yellow ; but on reaching home, 1 
perceived, to my surprise, that they were red. On 
