AHDETTA. 41 



Adult fkmale. — Resemhh'rt the mnl'', hut i reryirlipri', mufli paJrr iii colmir, and differs in 

 haviny the foreliea'l, crn'rn af tlie /n'ad, nnp", hack and sca/mliirs fhexlmil nr /■/le.i/initdnrurn insti;nd 

 of fflonsi/ yri'i'iiish-hhick. 



Disti'ihiitioii. — Northern Territory of South Australia, Oueensland, Mew South Wales, 

 \'ictoria. 



/T^HE range of the Minute I!ittern extends throughout the greater portion of Eastern 

 J- AustraHa, but is more commonly met with in the coastal districts than in the dry 

 inland portions of the States. It frequents chiefly the reeds, rushes and other aquatic herbage 

 found about swamps, reed-beds, dams and lagoons, also the dense thickets and rank grass-beds 

 fringing the sides of rivers and creeks. It is shy and seclusive in habits, and trusts to crouching 

 down to conceal itself if observed rather than to seek refuge in flight, generally being met with 

 singly, and less frequently in pairs. !t is difficult to flush, so much so that it is often caught by 

 dogs or by hand, but when disturbed it can fly very well, although with slow and laboured 

 flight. Its food consists principally of small fish and aquatic insects. 



The late Dr. R. B. Sharpe has recorded Northern .Australia and Oueensland as the habitat 

 of the closely allied . J ri/tV/'j s/;;(';/s/5, inhabiting chiefly the Japanese Islands and China to the 

 Indian Peninsula and Ceylon, and the Burmese and Malayan countries through the Malayan 

 Archipelago to New Guinea. An adult male, obtained by Messrs. Christie and Godfrey, by 

 striking the window of Point Charles Lighthouse, during a storm, which lies off Port Darwin, 

 in the Northern Territory of South Australia, is an undoubted Arddta piisilla, and is similar 

 to specimens obtained in the neighbourhood of Sydney. It is remarkable that with the 

 growth of population around the latter city, more specimens are obtained in its vicinity and 

 presented to the Trustees of the Australian Museum, than from all other parts of New South 

 Wales. The swamps in the vicmity of Kandwick and the old water reserve at Botany, are its 

 favourite haunts near the metropolis, many specimens being presented at various times by the 

 late Mr. Henry Newcombe, most of which he informed me were captured by his water-spaniel 

 while he was out shooting. From the same localities specimens have been presented on various 

 occasions by Dr. C. A. Edwards, Mr. E. Summerhayes Jeboult, and Mr. H. Burns. The late 

 Captain J. Bremer, R.N., also obtained this species at Rose Bay. Mr. Robt. Grant informs 

 me that on returning one evening from shooting at Dobroyde, he flushed one near the tram 

 line. There was fine cover for these birds in the reed-covered portion of the lower end of 

 Dobroyde Nursery, which abutted on the side of the creek. That it is not entirely confined to 

 the coastal districts of the State is proved by the receipt of an adult male from Mr. Frank 

 Mack, that was shot in January, 1895, ^' Narromine, a pastoral and agricultural district, situated 

 on the banks of the Macquarie River, and about three hundred and ten miles west of Sydney. 



There is the usual amount of individual variation found among adult birds of this species, 

 some being more richly coloured than others, especially on the buff or golden-buff wing patch 

 and on the under parts, the preceding description of the adult male being taken from a highly- 

 coloured specimen obtained by Mr. George Savidge at Copmanhurst, in November, 1898, and 

 that of the female from a specimen procured by Mr. J. M. Cantle at Cook River, near Sydney, 

 in January, 1895. 



Writing from Copmanhurst, Upper Clarence River, New South Wales, on the 23rd 

 December, 1895, Mr. George Savidge remark's: — "I have seen several examples of Arddta 

 pusilla about here lately, but after repeated searches for their nests, without success, I shot two 

 of them, and on dissection both of them proved to be males. The Minute Bittern is an 

 exceedingly rare species in the Clarence River District, but I have seen odd ones about South 

 Grafton, where the school boys ran down and caught several, perhaps young birds. A small 

 colony of eight or nine birds appeared one season in a thick reedy swamp, close to Copmanhurst, 

 11 



