2i8 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



Herts {Ibis, 1865, p. 433) ; and a few years later 

 another nest with eggs was taken, and the bird 

 shot, near Drayton Beauchamp, Bucks {Zool, 1868, 

 p. 1255). In the latest instance recorded, a nest 

 containing two eggs was found on Upton Broad, 

 Norfolk, on the 30th March 1868, and on the 25th 

 May following a nestling Bittern was captured at 

 the same place (Stevenson, " Birds of Norfolk," 

 vol. ii. p. 164). 



Strange to tell, in an aviary at Lilford Hall, 

 Northamptonshire, a pair of Bitterns made their 

 nest, in which four eggs were laid : one bird sat 

 very steadily, but without result {Zool., 1893, p. 91). 



At the present day the Bittern is best known in 

 England and Ireland as a winter visitant, at which 

 season it is often met with by sportsmen when snipe- 

 shooting in the bogs. In some winters these birds 

 are quite common in December and January, show- 

 ing that a considerable immigration takes place, and 

 occasionally they have been observed migrating. In 

 one instance, for example, forty or fifty were seen in 

 one flock {Zool, 1883, p. 223). 



No bird is better adapted by the colour of its 

 plumage to escape detection in its natural haunts. 

 The yellow plumage striated with darker markings, 

 and the green beak, which is held pointed upwards 

 when the bird is at rest, render it almost invisible 

 amongst the green stems and yellow leaves of the 

 fading reeds amongst which it crouches. 



The singular note of the Bittern, which has been 

 variously termed " booming," " bellowing," " bump- 



