In few other species of maritime or marsh birds have I seen so much difference of size and weight, even in the same sex. Of about twenty specimens in my possession, scarcely two correspond in the length of the bills, legs, or wings. The plate before you was engraved from a drawing made by my son John Woodhouse.
American Bittern, Ardea minor, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. vii. p. 35, pl. 65, fig. 3.
Ardea minor, Ch. Bonaparte, Synopsis of Birds of United States, p. 307.
American Bittern, Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 60.
American Bittern, Ardea lentiginosa, Richards. and Swains. Fauna Bor.-Amer. vol. ii. p. 374.
Adult Male. Plate CCCXXXVII. Fig. 1.
Bill longer than the head, moderately stout, straight, compressed, tapering to the point. Upper mandible with its dorsal line straight, towards the end slightly convex and declinate, the ridge broad and rather rounded at the base, gradually narrowed to the middle, then a little enlarged, and again narrowed to the point, the sides bulging, towards the margin erect, the edges sharp, towards the end obscurely serrated, the tip narrow, with a distinct notch or sinus on each side. Nasal groove oblong, with a long depressed line in front; nostrils sub-basal, linear, longitudinal. Lower mandible with the angle very long and extremely narrow, the dorsal line ascending and slightly convex, the sides flattened and sloping outwards, the edges sharp, direct, obscurely serrulate, the tip extremely slender.
Head small, oblong, much compressed. Neck long. Body slender, much compressed. Legs longish, stout; tibia bare for about an inch, reticulated all round, the scales on the hind part larger; tarsus roundish, with numerous large scutella before, reticulated behind with angular scales; toes very long, slender, marginate, the fourth and third connected by a short web, not reaching the second joint of the former; first toe large, second longer than fourth, all covered with numerous large scutella above; claws long, slender, tapering, slightly arched, that of hind toe much larger and more arched.
Eyelids, and a large space before the eye, bare. Plumage loose, soft, and blended; hind part of neck in its whole length, and a large space on the fore part of the breast without feathers, but covered, those on the neck being directed obliquely backwards. Wings rather short, broad, convex; primaries broad, rounded, the first pointed, shorter than the third, which is slightly exceeded by the second, the rest slowly graduated; secondaries very broad, rounded, the inner elongated so as slightly to exceed the primaries when the wing is closed. Tail very short, rounded, of ten feathers.
Bill dull yellowish-green, the ridge of the upper mandible brownish-black, of a lighter tint toward the base. Bare space before the eye brown; eyelids greenish-yellow; iris reddish-yellow. Feet dull yellowish-green; claws wood-brown. Upper part of the head brownish-grey; a streak of pale buff over the eye to behind the ear; a dusky streak from the posterior angle of the eye; the cheek and an oblique band to the middle of the neck light brownish-yellow; beneath which is a dusky brown line from the base of the lower mandible, continuous with a gradually enlarged band of black, which runs along the side of the neck; the upper parts yellowish-brown, patched, mottled, freckled, and barred with dark brown; alula, primary coverts, and most of the quills, deep bluish-grey, approaching to black; the tips of all these feathers light reddish-brown, dotted with bluish-grey. The fore part of the neck white above, yellowish-white beneath, the throat with a middle longitudinal line of yellowish-brown spots; on the rest of the neck each feather with a light brown central mark edged with darker, the rest of the lower parts dull yellowish-white, most of the feathers marked like those on the neck.