420 
LEAST BITTERN 
may walk over them in perfect safety, hut the smaller ones sink beneath the weight of a 
man, so that it is not safe to venture on them. These isolated spots of land are the chosen 
resort of the American Bitterns and here they build their nests of sticks, placing them on 
the ground amid the luxuriant grass, often but a few inches above the level of the water. 
The birds are not particularly shy when sitting, and I have often walked within a few feet 
of them, before they would rise; and upon one occasion, when one had her nest on one of 
the smaller islands, where the surface sunk beneath my weight for some distance around, 
the bird clung to her abode, even after it was submerged. This was about the first week 
in June, and I found from three to six fresh eggs, but in Massachusetts, where .they build 
on a bog in wet meadows, they lay a. little earlier than this; and from observations made 
in Florida, although I never found an egg, I am inclined to think that these birds breed 
early in March. During summer, these Bitterns are not found very commonly on the sea¬ 
shore, but in autumn, I have frequently shot them on the salt marshes, and at this season, 
they are very fat. This species is migratory, but some linger until very late, and I have 
started them from beside an open spring, late in November, when the ground was covered 
with snow. Bitterns appear to be subject to some peculiar disease which causes the skin 
of the neck to become greatly thickened, when it hangs in loose folds. During the past 
summer, Mr Outram Bangs called my attention to the fact, that when the Bitterns alight in 
the tall grass, they pull down a quantity, thus forming a perch upon which they sit. 
GENUS IV. ARDETTA. THE LITTLE BITTERNS. 
Gen. Cn. Bill, quite short and acutely pointed. Legs and toes, not very lony. Tail feathers, either eight or ten, not 
stiffened. Head provided with slightly lengthened feathers. 
Members of this genus are very small, with the lower neck behind destitute of feathers, but those on the sides and front 
are elongated. There is but one species within our limits. Sexes, not similar. 
ARDETTA EXILIS. 
Least Bittern. 
Ardetta exilis Gray., Gen. Birds; 1849. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Sr. Ch. Form, slender. Size, very small. Tongue, wide at base, long, and tapering gradually toward tip which 
is horny and pointed. 
Color. Adult male. Top of head, back, and tail, black, glossed with green. Wings, brown, with outer edge of in¬ 
ner secondaries, tips of all and of the greater coverts, sides of neck and stripe on sides of head next the black, chestnut-i-ed. 
Upper wing coverts, neck, and under surface, buffy-yellow, mixed with white. Spot on side of breast, brown. Iris, na¬ 
ked space about head, bill, and feet, yellow. 
Adult female. Similar to the male but the black of the back is replaced by brown and the yellow is overwashed with 
ashy and streaked with brown, „ 
Young of the year. Similar to the adult female, but is mottled with reddish and yellowish above. In the last two 
stages, the top of the upper mandible is brown. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
Readily known by the small size, and colors as described. Florida birds have only eight tail feathers, whereas those 
from the North have ten. Distributed, in summer, from Massachusetts, southward; wintering in Florida. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Average measurements of specimens from Florida. Length, 13*25; stretch, 16*75; wing, 4*85; tail, U70; bill, 1*85; tar¬ 
sus, 175. Longest specimen, 13*50; greatest extent of wing, 17*50; longest wing, 5*00; tail, 1*75; bill, 1*90; tarsus, 1 80. 
Shortest specimen, 13*00; smallest extent of wing, 16*00; shortest wing, 4*75; tail, 1*65; bill, 1*75; tarsus, 1*70. 
DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 
Nests, placed in tops of grass or bushes, composed of sticks, weeds, and grass. Eggs, from three to four in number, 
elliptical in form, pale blue in color, unspotted. Dimensions from *95x 1*25 to 1*00x 1 30. 
