"Adult male.--Above dark slaty gray, feathers of back and scapulars somewhat pointed and with a slight hoary gloss; wings and tail blackish, glossed with slate-color on the coverts, and with green on some of the latter and on the quills; crown and crest-plumes slaty gray; sides of face and cheeks black, the latter slightly mottled with rufous; from the hinder part of the cheeks a band of golden straw-color runs down the sides of the neck, the lower feathers being elongated; throat and fore neck prettily variegated with chestnut, black, and white, the chestnut predominating on the outer webs of the feathers and the white on the inner webs, with a longitudinal streak of black at the end of the latter, the long overlapping feathers on the sides of the chest being slaty gray with white margins, so that the general appearance of the throat and chest is streaked; remainder of under surface of body slaty gray, including the under wing-coverts, axillars, and quill-lining. 'Bill dusky reddish brown, lighter below; facial skin purplish brown; eyelids bluish; feet dark brown; claws dark horn-color; iris golden brown or pale red.' (Oates). Length, 508; culmen, 84; wing, 203; tail, 63; tarsus, 67; middle toe with claw, 76. "Adult female.--Does not differ from the male. Length, 508; culmen, 31; wing, 203; tail, 68; tarsus, 66; middle toe with claw, 74. "The slaty gray shade in the plumage appears to be a sign of the breeding season, as some of the winter specimens are black with a greenish gloss on the upper surface. "Young birds are much browner than the adults, and can immediately be recognized by their more freckled appearance, the feathers of the upper surface having ochraceous margins. The mottling of the rufous on the neck is much as in the adult birds but there is more white and less rufous, and the chest-feathers are much more broadly edged with white; the breast is dusky brown as well as the sides of the body; the abdomen is white; the sides of the face and ear-coverts are chestnut, with a little streak of white at the base of the mandible. "Nestling.--Similar in color to the young bird described above, but very much shaded with rufous, and having a great deal of rufous on the sides of the face; the crown covered with down of an ocherous color, the throat and chest very rufous." (Sharpe.) Genus BOTAURUS Stephens, 1819. The genus Botaurus is distinguished by its large size, comparatively short and stout bill and heavy legs; culmen much less than tarsus, the latter less than middle toe with claw; secondaries and scapulars nearly or quite as long as primaries. 153. BOTAURUS STELLARIS (Linnæus). COMMON BITTERN.