The trachea is 8 1/2 inches long, cylindrical; the rings 154, and ossified; its diameter at the top 5 1/2 twelfths, diminishing in the space of an inch and a half to 3 twelfths, and so continuing nearly to the end, when it contracts to 2 1/2 twelfths. The last rings are much extended, and divided into two portions, the last transverse half ring arched, and 5 twelfths in length. The bronchi are in consequence very wide at the top, gradually taper, and are composed of about 25 half rings. The contractor muscles are very feeble; the sterno-tracheal slender; a pair of inferior laryngeal muscles inserted into the first bronchial ring.
AMERICAN BITTERN.
Ardea minor, Wils.
PLATE CCCXXXVII. Male and Female.
It never was my fortune to have a good opportunity of observing all the habits of this very remarkable bird, which in many respects differs from most other Herons. It is a winter resident in the Peninsula of the Floridas, as well as many of the keys or islets which border its shores. But the greater number of individuals which pass over the United States, on their way northward, in March, come from places beyond our southern limits. During my residence in Kentucky, I never saw or heard of the occurrence of one of them; and although I have killed and assisted in killing a considerable number at various times of the year, I never heard their booming or love-notes; or, if I have, I did not feel assured that the sounds which reached my ears were those of the American Bittern. This may probably appear strange, considering the many years I have spent in searching our swamps, marshes, and woods. Yet true it is that in all my rambles I had not the good fortune to come upon one of these birds sitting on its eggs either among the grass or rushes, or on the branches of low bushes, where, I have been informed, it builds.
In Lower Louisiana, it is called the “Garde Soleil,” because they say it will stand on one foot for hours, with its eyes, or one of them at least, fixed on the orb of day, and frequently spread out its wings, in the manner of Cormorants and Vultures, to enjoy the heat, or perhaps the gentle breeze. There it is seldom obtained in spring, but is a regular autumnal visitant, appearing early in October, and frequenting the marshes both of fresh and salt water, where many remain until the beginning of May. It is then common in the markets of New Orleans, where it is bought by the poorer classes to make gombo soup. In almost every other part of the United States it is commonly called the “Indian Pullet,” or “Indian Hen.”
Although in a particular place, apparently favourable, some dozens of these birds may be found to-day, yet, perhaps, on visiting it to-morrow, you will not find one remaining; and districts resorted to one season or year, will be found deserted by them the next. That they migrate by night I have always felt assured, but that they are altogether nocturnal is rather uncertain, for in more than half a dozen instances I have surprised them in the act of procuring food in the middle of the day when the sun was shining brightly. That they are extremely timid I well know, for on several occasions, when I have suddenly come upon them, they have stood still from mere terror, until I have knocked them down with an oar or stick. Yet, when wounded, and their courage is raised, they shew great willingness to defend themselves, and if in the presence of a dog, they never fail to spread out to their full extent the feathers of the neck, leaving its hind part bare, ruffle those of their body, extend their wings, and strike violently at their enemy. When seized they scratch furiously, and endeavour to bite, so that, unless great care be taken, they may inflict severe wounds.
I never saw one of them fly farther than thirty or forty yards at a time; and on such occasions, their movements were so sluggish as to give opportunities of easily shooting them; for they generally rise within a few yards of you, and fly off very slowly in a direct course. Their cries at such times greatly resemble those of the Night and Yellow-crowned Herons.
My friends, Dr Bachman and Mr Nuttall, have both heard the love-notes of this bird. The former says, in a letter to me, “their hoarse croakings, as if their throats were filled with water, were heard on every side;” and the latter states that “instead of the búmp or böomp of the true Bittern, their call is something like the uncouth syllables of ’pump-aū-gàh, but uttered in the same low, bellowing tone.”
Dr Bachman procured, on the 29th April 1833, about forty miles from Charleston, individuals, in the ovaries of which he found eggs so large as to induce him to believe that they would have been laid in the course of a single week. Some others which were procured by him and myself within nine miles of Charleston, on the 29th of March, had the eggs extremely small.
While at Passamaquody Bay, at the eastern extremity of the United States, I was assured that this species bred in the vicinity; but I saw none there, or in any of the numerous places examined on my way to Labrador and Newfoundland. In neither of these countries did I meet with a single person who was acquainted with it.