. Hunting and fishing in Florida : including a key to the water birds known to occur in the State . the wing coverts tawny yellow ;front and sides of the neck and under parts yellowish brown, show-ing wJiite oti throat; ?i^-AXc\\ of brownish black on the sides of thebreast; bill yellowish, dusky on the top: legs green, yellow on theback; toes yellow. Adult female: Having the back and crown purplish chestnut in-stead of black. Length. ; Wing, ; Bill, 2 ; Tarsus. This species ranges from temperate North Americasouthward to the West Indies and Northern SouthAmerica. It breeds along
. Hunting and fishing in Florida : including a key to the water birds known to occur in the State . the wing coverts tawny yellow ;front and sides of the neck and under parts yellowish brown, show-ing wJiite oti throat; ?i^-AXc\\ of brownish black on the sides of thebreast; bill yellowish, dusky on the top: legs green, yellow on theback; toes yellow. Adult female: Having the back and crown purplish chestnut in-stead of black. Length. ; Wing, ; Bill, 2 ; Tarsus. This species ranges from temperate North Americasouthward to the West Indies and Northern SouthAmerica. It breeds along the Atlandc coast nearly throughoutits range. It is common in Florida where it breeds, being veiy abundant insome localities. The nest is placed in a bunch of reeds or rushes, sometimes on smallbushes. The eggs are from four to six, pale bluish white. I have found as manyas a dozen nests of this species within a distance of tifty yards on some ofthe small Florida ponds, but it seems to be local, as many ponds in the samelocality, seemingly equally suitable, did not contain a single KEY TO THK WATER BIRDS OF FLORIDA. 249 ARDETTA NEOXENA G^ Bittern.* Top of the head, back, and tail dark i;reenish black, show-ing a green gloss when held in the light. Sides of the headand throat riifous chestnut; the feathers on the back ofthe neck showing greenish black tips ; breast and under partsnearly uniform chestnut, shading into dull black on thesides; wing coverts dark rufous chestnut; all the remigesentirely slaty plumbeous ; under tail coverts dull black. Wing, ; Tarsus, ; Bill, This interesting little Bittern was described by me in 1886 from a speci-men taken in the Everglades of Florida. Since then a dozen or morespecimens have been secured, most of them from Florida, but one was takennear Toronto, and another in Michigan. It is probably not uncommon insome localities, but its retiring disposition makes it seem rare, as it is seldomseen.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade, booksubjectbirds, booksubjecthunting
