426 BOTAURUS MINUTUS. 



southern, and especially the south-eastern counties of Eng- 

 land, it has frequently hecn procured, yet not so often as to 

 raise it from the rank of a very rare visitant. In corre- 

 sponding latitudes on the continent it is a summer bird 

 only, inhabiting marshy places, the swampy sides of lakes 

 and rivers, and, in general, situations in which a profuse 

 vegetation of reeds, sedges, flags, or willows afford it con- 

 cealment, while they harbour its prey, which consists of 

 small fishes, young frogs, newts, aquatic insects, worms, and 

 mollusca. Its nest, which is placed upon the ground, is 

 formed of withered blades of grasses or carices; and the 

 eggs, four or five in number, are white, broadly elliptical, an 

 inch and five-twelfths in length, an inch and a twelfth in 

 breadth. The male is said to emit a loud barking cry ; but 

 the habits of this species are very imperfectly known, none 

 of the continental ornithologists having extended their ob- 

 servations on birds in any degree approaching to that pre- 

 sented by the labours of those of North America, especially 

 Wilson and Audubon ; and in Britain opportunities of study- 

 ing the manners of this bird are wanting. Although its 

 nest has not been met with in England, it very probably 

 sometimes breeds there, as individuals have been shot in the 

 summer months and early in autumn. Mr. Thompson men- 

 tions several cases of its occurrence in Ireland. 



Young. — In their first winter the young have the bill 

 pale flesh-colour, with the ridge brown ; the iris pale yellow ; 

 the feet pale bluish-green ; the claws pale brown. The upper 

 part of the head is dull brownish-black ; the feathers of the 

 upper parts of the body and the scapulars dusky, edged with 

 light brownish-yellow ; the wing-coverts dull yellow ; the 

 quills and primary coverts greyish-black, with a tinge of 

 green ; the outer web of the first quill reddish-brown ; the 

 tail dusky. The lower parts are pale yellow, streaked with 

 dusky ; the breast brownish. The following are the dimen- 

 sions of the individual described, which was procured in a 

 recent state : — 



Length to end of tail 14 inches ; extent of wings 21 ; bill 

 along the ridge 1^-, along the edge of lower mandible 2f ; 



