COMMON BITTEBN 225 



gpecies. It is, however, a noteworthy fact that, whereas other 

 species that have been driven out, such as the great bustard, spoon* 

 bill, avocet, black tern, and several more, appear now as only rare 

 occasional visitors in our country, the bittern comes back to us 

 annually, as if ever seeking to recover its lost footing in our island. 

 And that he would recover it, and breed again in suitable places as 

 in former times, is not to be doubted, if only the human inhabitants 

 would allow it ; but, unhappily, this bird, like the ruff, hoopoe, and 

 kingfisher, when stuffed and in a glass case, is looked upon as an 

 attractive ornament by persons of a low order of intelHgence and 

 vulgar tastes. 



The bittern is a bird of singular appearance. On the wing he 

 resembles the heron, but it is a rare thing to see him abroad in the 

 daytime. He is strictly nocturnal in habits, and passes the day- 

 light hours concealed in thick reed-beds in extensive marshes. His 

 buff and yellow and chestnut colour, mottled and barred and 

 pencilled with black and brown, gives him a strange tigriue or cat- 

 like appearance ; it is a colouring well suited to his surroundings, 

 where yellow and brown dead vegetation is mixed with the green, 

 and the stems and loose leaves of the reeds throw numberless spots 

 and bars of shade beneath. Secure in its imitative colouring, the 

 bittern remains motionless in its place until almost trodden upon. 

 Its active life begins in the evening, when it leaves its hiding-place 

 to prey on fishes, eels, frogs, voles, small birds, and insects, and 

 every living thing it finds and is able to conquer with a blow of its 

 sharp, powerful bill. 



When flying he utters a harsh, powerful scream, and he has, 

 besides, a strange vocal performance, called ' booming ' — a sound 

 that resembles the bellowing of a bulL Formerly, when the bittern 

 was a common bird in England, this extraordinary evening per- 

 formance was the subject of some superstitious notions, and it was 

 commonly beUeved that, to produce so great a volume of sound, the 

 bird, when screaming, thrust its beak and head into the water. 

 Thus, in Thomson's * Seasons ' we read : — 



The bittern knows his time, with bill submerged, 

 To shake the sounding marsh. 



In March or April the nest is made on the ground, among the 

 thick reeds, and is formed of weeds, sticks, and rushes. The eggs 

 are four in number, of an olive-brown colour, sometimes with a 

 greenish shade. 



