410 



BOTAURUS STELLAHIS. THE EUROPEAN 

 BITTERN. 



COMMON BITTERN. MIREDRUM. BUMPY-COSS. BUTTER-BUMP. BITTER- 

 BUM. BOG-BUMPER. BUMBLE. 



Fig. 34. 



Ardea stellaris. Linn. Syst. Nat. I. 239. 



Ardea stellaris. Lath. Ind. Orn. II. 680. 



Ardea stellaris. Linn. Syst. Nat. I. 329. 



Bittern. Mont. Orn. Diet. 



Heron Grand Butor. Ardea stellaris. Temm. Man. d'Orn. II. 580. 



Ardea stellaris. Flem. Brit. Anim. 95. 



Common Bittern. Ardea stellaris. Selb. Illustr. II. 30. 



Ardea stellaris. Common Bittern. Jen. Brit. Vert. An. 190. 



Botaurus stellaris. Bonap. Comp. List, 48. 



Length about thirty inches; one inch of the tibia bare. 

 Adult light reddish-yellow, with the upper part of the head 

 and the greater portion of the scapulars purplish-black; the 

 rest of the upper parts transversely undidated with dusky; 

 the lower parts paler, with the markings on the fore-neck 

 larger and more brown, those along the middle of the breast 

 black and longitudinal. Young similar. 



Male. — Although the Bittern has a very bulky appear- 

 ance compared with that of many other species of this 

 family, it is in reality a very slender bird, its size being 



