92 On the occurrence of an Ameincan Bittern in Ireland. 



also that the American Bittern " has nothing of that loud boom- 

 ing sound for which the European Bittern is so remarkable *." 

 Audubon has not himself heard its notes, but gives the observa- 

 tions of two well-known naturalists upon them. Dr. Bichardson 

 states that " its loud booming, exactly resembling that of the Com- 

 mon Bittern of Europe, may be heard every summer evening, and 

 frequently during the day f.^^ 



Judging from these works, this bird takes the place in North 

 America of the Common Bittern in Europe, but is much more 

 frequent there than the latter now is in any part of the British 

 Islands. Audubon informs us that in winter it is " common in 

 the markets of New Orleans, where it is bought by the poorer 

 classes to make gombo soup.'^ 



The Prince of Canino, in his ^ Comparative List of the Birds 

 of EuropiB and North America,' makes Montagu's bird, Ardea 

 lentiffinosa, distinct from the American species {A. mmor, Wilson), 

 with which however, as described by Dr. Richardson, the one 

 killed in Ireland is perfectly identical in species. It agrees so 

 well with the " description of a male killed on the Saskatchewan 

 plains, 8th July 1827 J,'' that all the details of colour and mark- 

 ings equally apply to this example, except in the few following 

 very trivial points : — the feathers on the vent and under tail- 

 coverts being very sparingly dotted with brown towards the shafts 

 instead of being '^ unspotted '' ; and the long feathers on the front 

 and sides of the neck and breast having the central stripe of 

 mottled clove-brown bordered with a blackish line imparting to 

 them a beautiful finish, and outside of which is a line of deep 

 yellow shading off gradually to a lighter tint at the margin. In 

 every character oiform the bird before me agrees with that de- 

 scription, except in having a slight development of web between 

 the outer and inner toe, instead of being " quite free '' of such ; 

 and in the first quill being the longest instead of the '^ second 

 and third'' — the first exceeds the second, as the second does the 

 third, by not more than one line (y g th of an inch) in length : it 

 may be added that the third exceeds the fourth by IJ line, and 

 the fourth the fifth by 6 lines ; and that these quills present a 

 very interesting gradation in form from the first, which is pointed, 

 to the fifth, which is quite square at the tip. Like the nine birds 

 examined by Dr. Richardson, it possesses just ten tail-feathers : 

 — Wilson attributes twelve to A. minor. Two specimens could 

 not be expected to resemble each other more nearly than that de- 

 scribed by Dr. Richardson, and the one killed in Ireland ; but the 



* Jardine's edit. Wils. Amer. Orn. vol. iii. p. 57. 

 t Fauna Bor. Amer. p. 374. 



X Consequently it differs entirely from the other male killed on the 27th 

 June, and which doubtless must have been a bird of a different age. 



