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 quā, 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 to the case, I leave for you to determine; but, my opinion is, that the animal truly deserving to be called stupid, yet remains to be discovered, and that the quality designated by that epithet occurs nowhere else than among the individuals of that species which so thoughtlessly applies the opprobrium.
Ardea exilis, Ch. Bonaparte, Synopsis of Birds of the United States, p. 308.
Least Bittern, Ardea exilis, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. viii. p. 37. pl. 65. fig. 4.—Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 66.
Adult Male. Plate CCX. Fig. 1.
Bill longer than the head, slender, straight, tapering to a point, deeper than broad at the base, compressed towards the end. Upper mandible with its dorsal line almost straight, the ridge broad and rather rounded at the base, narrowed towards the end, the sides sloping, the edges very sharp, the tip acute. Nasal groove long; nostrils basal, linear, longitudinal. Lower mandible with the angle very long and narrow, the dorsal line sloping upwards, the sides nearly flat, the edges sharp and inflected, the tip very acute.
Head oblong, much compressed. Neck long. Body very slender, much compressed. Feet long, rather robust; tibia nearly entirely feathered; tarsi covered anteriorly with broad oblique scutella; toes scutellate above; hind toe stout, second and fourth nearly equal, third much longer; claws long, slender, arched, compressed, acute, that of middle toe serrated on the inner edge.
Eyelids and a large space before and beneath the eye, bare. Plumage soft, blended; feathers of the hind head elongated, as are those of the neck generally, but especially of its lower part anteriorly. Wings short, broad, rounded, the second quill longest. Tail very short, rounded, of twelve feathers.
Bill dark olive-brown above, edges of upper mandible and bare frontal space yellow; lower mandible pale yellow, inclining to flesh colour. Iris yellow. Feet dull greenish-yellow, claws brown. Upper part of the head, and the back, greenish-black and glossy; sides of the head and hind part of neck, brownish-red or light chestnut; wing-coverts pale greyish-brown, quills purplish-grey, tipped with yellowish-brown, the inner secondaries broadly margined with light chestnut, of which colour also are the secondary coverts and the edge of the wing at the flexure; the tail greenish-black. The throat and fore neck are reddish-white; the rest of the lower parts are of the same colour, excepting the fore part of the breast, which is blackish-brown, the feathers tipped with reddish-yellow, and the outer tibial feathers, which are reddish. In younger individuals the fore neck is more or less spotted with light brown, as was the case with that represented; but in old birds that part is unspotted.