EUROPEAN BITTERN. 415 



are new to us." What a pleasant thing it is to be able to 

 write copiously and with ease on a subject about which one 

 knows nothing ! Mr. Mudie's Bittern is evidently the off- 

 spring of his fine imagination, and its booming is the drum- 

 ming of a Snipe. That he has mistaken one thing for 

 another is very evident; for when attempting to describe 

 the noises made by the Snipe, he quite mismanages. 



The Bittern is an unsocial bird, deriving its chief enjoy- 

 ment from an exclusive attention to its own interests ; and 

 thus its habits present nothing particularly pleasing. It 

 reposes by day, concealed among the reeds or other tall 

 aquatic plants, standing with its neck bent, and its head 

 drawn back between its shoulders. When so situated, it 

 alloAvs a person to come quite close upon it before it takes 

 wing; and when it flies off, it proceeds but to a short 

 distance, and then alights. It pairs in February, and at 

 that season has a mode of expressing its tender feelings 

 quite in correspondence with its uncouth manners. In the 

 evening twilight it rises on wing in a spiral direction, emit- 

 ting at intervals a bellowing noise, which, however, it also 

 gives out when on the ground. Its nest, which is concealed 

 among the long herbage is a bulky and rudely-constructed 

 mass of sticks, reeds, and sedges. The eggs, four or five in 

 number, are of a pale yellowish-green colour. The young 

 continue in or about the nest until they are able to fly. A 

 few instances of its breeding in England are given. It is 

 probable, however, that by far the greater number of indi- 

 viduals that are found in Britain are visitants only. In 

 some years they are said to be more numerous than in 

 others. Thus, Mr. Selby remarks that, in the winter of 

 1830, "a more than usual number of Bitterns has been 

 killed in various parts of the kingdom ; and I am credibly 

 informed, that no less than ten were exposed for sale in one 

 morning at Bath." Mr. Heysham also states that, " during 

 the months of December, January, and February last (1830- 

 31), no less than eight specimens of the Bittern were killed 

 in this part of the county (Carlisle.)" This is the more 

 remarkable, as only a single specimen has been met with in 

 the same district for the last ten or twelve years. It would 



