BOTA UR VS MINOR. 
419 
GENUS in. BOTAURUS. THE BITTERNS. 
Gen. Ch. Bill, not long, but sharply pointed. Tail feathers, ten or twelve, soft. Lower neck, destitute of feathers be¬ 
hind. Tarsus, short, and toes, long. Plumes, absent. 
Members of this genus are rather dull in color, usually with the feathers of the lower neck elongated in front. The 
eyes are small, but the birds are more or less nocturnal in habit. There is but one species within our limits. 
BOTAURUS MINOR. 
American Bittern. 
Botaurus minor Boie, Isis; 1826, 979. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Sp. Cn. Form, robust. Size, medium. Tongue., very long, slender, and narrowing gradually to tip which is acutely 
pointed. 
Color. Adult. Above, dark-brown, spotted and sprinkled with yellowish and reddish. Sidesof head and under sur¬ 
face, pale yellow, lightest on throat, broadly streaked with yellowish-rufous and dusky. Triangular patch on the sides of 
neck, black. Iris, yellow. Naked space in front of eye, legs, and bill, greenish. Line from eye and top of bill, brown. 
Young. Similar to the adult, but is much paler throughout and the black patch on the neck is nearly obsolete, while 
the bill is dusky. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
Readily known by the mixed yellowish and rufous colors as described. Distributed, in summer, from Canada south¬ 
ward; wintering in the South. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Average measurements of specimens from Eastern North America. Length, 28*51), stretch, 43*22; wing, 11*50; tail, 
3-50; bill, 3 10; tarsus, 3*75. Longest specimen, 34*00; greatest extent of wing, 50'37; longest wing, 13 50, tail, 4*00; bill, 
3*50; tarsus, 3*95. Shortest specimen, 23*50; smallest extent of wing, 37*10; shortest wing, 9*50; tail, 3 00; bill, 2*50; tar¬ 
sus, 3*25. 
DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 
Nests, placed on the ground in marshy places, composed of sticks, loosely arranged, and grass. Eggs, three to six 
in number, elliptical in form, and varying from greenish-ash to brown in color, unspotted. Dimensions from 1*65x2 10 to 
1*80x2*25. 
HABITS. 
The peculiar punc-a-pog of the Bittern has been a familiar sound to me from child¬ 
hood, as a pair used to nest every season in a marshy place, not far from the house, and 
their singular cries could be heard every evening. The notes which may be expressed by 
the syllables given above, are emitted in a peculiar tone, just as though the bird were un¬ 
der water, or that it struck its wings upon the surface. This sound is oftener uttered about 
sunset or during the night than at any other time, but in the breeding season, it may be 
heard at all times of the day. The birds are very solitary in habit and frequent those wet, 
boggy meadows, where it is almost impossible to walk without sinking into the soft ooze, 
but they will occasionally emerge from these retreats and alight upon the overhanging 
branches of some neighboring thicket; then if disturbed, will rise with a harsh croak, fly a 
short distance, and plunge into the mora'ss. If pursued at such times, they are exceed¬ 
ingly difficult to start, for they will either skulk through the grass, or hide beneath the 
surface of the water, leaving only the bill exposed. 
In Lake Umbagog, Maine, are small islands, upon some of which trees, thirty feet 
high, are growing, and they are all covered with a luxuriant growth of shrubbery and grass; 
in short, to all appearances, these islets are solid land, yet they have no firm connection 
with the bottom of the water, but are simply stranded, and during gales which occur at 
high water, are driven from place to place at the sport of the wind. The larger of these 
floating islands, which often contain nearly half an acre of land, are so buoyant that one 
