LITTLE BITTERN. 201 



to occupy a somewhat intermediate position between the 

 Herons and the Bitterns, but its affinities are closer to the 

 latter, inasmuch as the tail consists of only ten soft feathers, 

 and it has only two pairs of powder-down tracts ; whereas 

 the true Herons have three pairs of the latter, and twelve 

 tail-feathers. For it, and for four or five allied species, 

 the genus Ardetta has been instituted ; and although the 

 structural distinctions between it and the true Bitterns may 

 not appear very marked, yet the colour of the eggs of all 

 the Little Bitterns is quite different from that in which 

 prevails the genus Botaiiras, and, so far as is known at 

 present, the adult males of the Little Bittern group have 

 a plumage distinct from that of the females and young. 



In this country the Little Bittern may be considered 

 rather as a summer visitor, most of the recorded examples 

 having been obtained between spring and autumn. The 

 Kev. Richard Lubbock, however, sent the Author word that 

 the specimen mentioned by Mr. Paget, in his Sketch of the 

 Natural History of Yarmouth, page 7, as in the collection 

 of Mrs. J. Baker, was in immature plumage, and having 

 been caught by a water-dog at Hickling, near Ludlam, 

 during the extreme frost of 18'22-3, was given by himself to 

 Mrs. Baker's brother, the late Mr. Girdlestone. Messrs, 

 Sheppard and Whitear also speak of one killed in the 

 winter of 1819 near Burlingham ; Mr. W. E. Clarke, out of 

 thirteen occurrences in Yorkshire, gives winter dates for 

 two ; and there are other instances of a similar nature. 



Some birds, if not prevented, would probably have bred 

 in this country. Montagu, in his Supplement, says, " A 

 female of this rare species was shot contiguous to the river 

 Credy, in Devonshire, in the month of May, 1808. It was 

 only wounded in the wing, and was kept alive for two days ; 

 and it was observed to sit with its neck contracted like the 

 Common Heron, but with the bill pointing upwards. Upon 

 dissection, about forty eggs were counted in the ovaries, 

 some of which were so considerably enlarged as to induce 

 an opinion that a brood would have been produced in this 

 country, especially as a male was afterwards shot not very 



VOL. IV. P D 



