Plate CCX. Male, Female, and Young.
Bill rather slender; feathers on the crown and occiput somewhat
elongated and loose. Male with the upper part of the head, back, and
tail, glossy greenish-black, some of the lateral feathers edged with
white; sides of head and hind part of neck light chestnut;
wing-coverts brownish-yellow; quills purplish-grey, tipped with
yellowish-brown, inner secondaries broadly margined with light
chestnut, of which colour also are the secondary coverts and edge of
the wing at the flexure; throat and fore neck reddish-white, with a
series of reddish-brown spots; fore part of breast, under the
elongated feathers, blackish-brown; the rest of the lower parts
reddish-white; tibia reddish-brown in front. Female smaller, with the
colours duller, the upper part of the head inclining to brown. Young
with the upper parts light brownish-red, variegated with
brownish-yellow; primary quills and tail black.
_Male_, 13-1/2, 17-3/4. _Female_, 12, wing 14-3/4.
Resident in Florida. Migrates in spring eastward as far as Maine, and
throughout the Western Country, far up the Missouri. Retires southward
in winter. Texas.
Least Bittern, Ardea exilis, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. viii. p. 37.
Ardea exilis, Bonap. Syn. p. 308.
Least Bittern, Ardea exilis, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 66.
Least Bittern, Ardea exilis, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iii. p. 77; v.
v. p. 606.