FEATHERED STOWAWAYS 



Two or three years ago a specimen of the 

 American bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus\ which 

 had been captured on board a ship in the 

 Atlantic, 500 miles from Philadelphia, was 

 received at the Zoo. 



This is not the first time that birds captured 

 very far from land have found a home in 

 Regent's Park. But the present instance is 

 peculiarly interesting, in that it amply justifies 

 a surmise of one our most judicial ornithologists. 



The American bittern, paradoxical as the fact 



may appear, was first known as an English 



bird. As long ago as 1804 there was killed 



in Dorsetshire a bittern which was recognised 



by the great ornithologist, Colonel Montagu, as 



of a different species from our European bird 



{Botaurus stellar is). It was smaller and more 



slender, more finely mottled over most of its 



plumage, but had the quills plain drab instead 



of the usual cinnamon with black bands. Of 



course it was duly named, but not so very 



lon£ afterwards it was found that this kind of 



bittern was the ordinary species in America, 



where the common bittern does not occur. 



161 L 



