Part 22

AMERICAN BITTERN 190. Botaurus lentiginosus. 28 in.

Much variegated with brown and yellowish-brown; adults with a long, broad, black stripe on either side of the white throat; eye yellow; legs and base of bill greenish-yellow. Bitterns have a great many local names, most of which refer to the peculiar pumping noise that the male makes during the mating season. Perhaps the most common of these is “Stake-driver.” Bitterns are found in bogs or marshes; they remain concealed by the tall grass until any intruder is very near, before they take flight.

Notes.—A squawk of alarm; song a hollow “punker-lunk.”

Nest.—A grass-lined hollow in tufts of grass or turf, in the middle of bogs or marshes. 3 or 4 plain brownish eggs, measuring 1.95 × 1.50. But one or two pairs nest in a locality; May, June.

Range.—Breeds in the northern half of the United States and Southern Canada; winters in southern half of the United States.

LEAST BITTERN 191. Ixobrychus exilis. 13 in.

Male with the crown and back glossy black; female with these areas hair-brown, and streaked with brown below. These diminutive little bitterns are very shy and retiring, and seldom seen away from the reed grown marshes or ponds that they frequent.

Notes.—A hoarse croak, and a softly repeated “coo.”

Nest.—A platform of dead rushes twisted about the living stalks. The 3 or 4 eggs are pale bluish white. (1.2 × .9); May, June.

Range.—Breeds from the Gulf States, locally to Southern Canada; winters from the Gulf States southward.

CORY LEAST BITTERN 191.1. Ixobrychus neoxynus. 13 in.

This extremely rare little bittern is of the same size and form as the common species. The crown, back, wing-feathers and tail are black, and the rest of the plumage is more or less intense chestnut brown. The majority of specimens have been taken in Florida and Ontario, with one each from Michigan and Massachusetts. There are about twenty of them known to be preserved.

GREAT WHITE HERON 192. Ardea occidentalis. 50 in.

This is the largest heron that we get in North America, surpassing even the Great Blue. Its plumage is entirely white; no “aigrettes” on the back, but two white plumes on the back of the head and the feathers of the breast much lengthened, the same as in adult Blue Herons; bill, eyes and legs yellow. A gray phase of this heron, or a hybrid between it and the Great Blue Heron, is occasionally found in Southern Florida; it is similar to the Blue Heron, but paler and with the head and neck white.

Nest.—A large platform of sticks placed in the tops of mangroves. Their three or four eggs are not distinguishable from those of the next species; June.

Range.—Said to be not uncommon on some of the Florida Keys.

GREAT BLUE HERON 194. Ardea herodias. 48 in.

Adult Blue Herons are very handsome birds, as may be seen in the illustration. Young birds, and nine out of ten that we see will be young birds, are much duller colored and have no plumes. It takes several years for them to attain their perfect plumage. Their nests are placed in the tops of the tallest trees and are, consequently, difficult to get at. In some heronries, trees have been found containing as many as 40 nests. In flight, herons always carry their head drawn in against the shoulders, the neck being curved below.

Nest.—A platform of sticks in tall trees in wet woods. 3 or 4 pale greenish-blue eggs (2.50 × 1.50); May, June.

Range.—Breeds locally throughout the United States and Canada, either in colonies, or single pairs where they are persecuted as in New England; winters in Southern U.S. 149b. Ward Heron (A. h. wardi) is similar but lighter below and the neck is darker and browner; it abounds in Florida.

AMERICAN EGRET 196. Herodias egretta. 41 in.

Entirely white, with no plumes on the head but with a long train of straight “aigrette” plumes growing from the middle of the back; bill and eye, yellow; legs and feet, black. Young and adults in winter, without plumes. The hand of man, to gratify the desire of woman, has ruthlessly slaughtered thousands upon thousands of these exquisitely beautiful birds; in Florida where they were abundant a few years ago, only stragglers are seen. A few of these heronries are yet left, either because they are in wildernesses where man has not yet penetrated, or are strongly protected by the humane owners of the land. It is only at the breeding places that they can be killed in numbers, as at other times they are shy; and it is only during nesting season that they wear their beautiful plumes.

Nest.—A frail platform of sticks, at low elevations, in bushes usually over water in swamps. Eggs, 3 or 4 in number, plain bluish green (2.25 × 1.45); April to June.

SNOWY HERON 197. Egretta candidissima. 24 in.

Plumage white; in breeding season with numerous recurved plumes growing from the middle of the back; long crest of plumes on the back of the head, and on the breast. Bill black, greenish at the base and about the eyes; legs black; feet yellow. This species is the most beautiful of the Egrets and consequently is the one that has suffered most from “plume hunters.” Although they are now protected wherever they can be, their ranks have been so decimated that extermination is threatened within a few years; the demand for their plumes is still so great that lawless men will commit murder to obtain them (Warden Bradley having been shot in 1905, while preventing the destruction of herons in Southern Florida).

Nest.—In swamps, in company with other small herons, the nests being frail platforms of twigs on branches of trees. Eggs pale greenish-blue.

Range.—Breeding range formerly coincident with that of the last, but now very rare.

REDDISH EGRET 198. Dichromanassa rufescens. 29 in.