m a graceful manner with much agility, and generally kept close together.
I had ample opportunities of studying their natural positions,
and drew both of them in the attitudes exhibited in the plate. I would
gladly have kept them longer; but as I was bound for the south, I had
them killed for the purpose of preserving their skins.
This bird ranges over most part of the United States, but is nowhere
to be found in tolerable abundance excepting about the mouths of the
Mississippi and the Southern portions of the Floridas, especially the
" Ever-glades." I have met with them to the eastward as far as New
9flJ ybri&Piua. ?miEfi sm dnw uhm-A r^u«. mm'teato?. yarn uoy (apdi
Brunswick, on our large lakes, and in the intermediate portions of the
country, although I have seldom found more than one or two at a time.
• •' > ^ > . m imu&L& si .lovsy/oif via vwmbib
In the Floridas and Carolinas they have been known to breed in small communities
of four or five pairs. One instance of this was observed by my
friend Dr H o r l b e c k of Charleston, and Dr L e i t n e r , another friend of
mine, found them quite abundant in certain portions of the Florida
ii nb9flri.eifi iteuffl it ?9srra3B si&sshGm & m bsnstemni asdw vino fooJ
marshes.
odi m iud t h&h . . r -m$ m z&vss, sd$ <gnqniB nieuB a/Lsi Although the Least Bittern is not unfrequently started in salt marshes,
it gives a decided preference to the borders of ponds, lakes or bayous of
fresh water, and it is in secluded situations of this kind that it usually
forms its nest. This is sometimes placed on the ground, amid the rankest
grasses, but more frequently it is attached to the stems several inches
above it. It is flat, composed of dried or rotten weeds, and in shape resembles
that of the Louisiana Heron, although this latter employs nothing
but sticks. The eggs are three or four, seldom more, of a dull
yellowish-green, without spots, an inch and a quarter in length, almost
equal at both ends.
When the young are yet quite small, their heads are covered with large
tufts of reddish down, their bill is very short, and they sit on their rump
with their legs extended on each side before their body, in the manner of
young Herons. If disturbed when about two weeks old, they leave the nest
bjfVuOj! 9Vj$rf A. »*jf9yrDW0Gl 8$k'>f!?; i*'-'); • ' "• . •c',\-lT,»*friJf,W "fed** vxitv^
and scramble through the grass with celerity, clinging to the blades with
their sharp claws whenever this is necessary. At a later period they
seem to await the coming of their parents with impatience; and if no
noise is made, you may hear them calling continually in a low croaking
voice for half an hour at a time. As soon as they are able to fly, they
not unfrequently alight on the branches of trees to escape from their various
enemies, such as minxes and water snakes, the latter of which destroy
a good number of them.
L E A S T BITTERN. 79
In two instances, I found the nests of the Least Bittern about three
feet above the ground, in a thick cluster of smilax and other briary plants.
In the first, two nests were placed in the same bush, within a few yards of
each, other. In the other instance there was only one nest of this bird,
but several of the Boat-tailed Grakle, and one of the Green Heron, the
occupants of all of which seemed to be on friendly terms. When startled
from the nest, the old birds emit a few notes resembling the syllable qua,
alight a few yards off, and watch all your movements. If you go towards
them, you may sometimes take the female with the hand, but rarely the
male, who generally flies off, or makes his way through the woods. Its
ordinary cry, however, is a rough croak resembling that,of the Great Blue
Heron, but much weaker.
The flight of this bird is apparently weak by day, for then it seldom
removes to a greater distance than a hundred yards at a time, and this,
too, only when frightened in a moderate degree, for, if much alarmed, it
falls again among the grass in the manner of the Rail; but in the dusk
of the evening and morning I have seen it passing steadily along, at the
height of fifty years or more, with the neck retracted, and the legs
stretched out behind, in the manner of the larger Herons. On such occasions
it uttered, at short intervals, its peculiar cry, and continued its
flight until out of sight. Several individuals were together, and I imagined
them to be proceeding in search of breeding-grounds, or on a migratory
expedition. When disturbed by day, they fly with extended
neck and dangling legs, and are easily shot, as their course is generally
direct and their flight slow. When walking, it shoots its head forward
at every step, as if about to thrust its bill into some substance ; and, if
you attempt to lay hold of it when disabled, it is apt to inflict a painful
wound.
The food of this bird consists of snails, slugs, tadpoles, or young
frogs and water-lizards. In several instances, however, I have found
small shrews and field-mice in their stomach. Although more nocturnal
than diurnal, it moves a good deal about by day in search of food. About
noon, being doubtless much fatigued, they are not unfrequently observed
standing erect on one foot, and so soundly asleep as to be easily knocked
down or even caught by the hand, if cautiously approached. This very
remarkable habit of both our species of Bittern has brought upon them
the charge of extreme stupidity, whence the name of Butor given to them
by the Creoles of Louisiana. Whether or not this term be appropriate