LITTi-E BITTERN. 203 



Lincolnshire ; thirteen in Yorkshire ; one at the mouth of 

 the Tyne : and from another killed in Northumberland and 

 belonging to the late Sir M. W. Ridley, Bart., Bewick's 

 figure of the adult Little Bittern was taken. Although 

 rarer on the western side of our island, Lancashire and 

 other counties can show records, and there is probably not 

 a county in England in which it has not been observed. 



In Scotland the occurrences of the Little Bittern have 

 been few, and at long intervals ; but it has been known to 

 straggle to the Orkneys, and once to Shetland. To Ireland 

 it was considered by Thompson to be a very rare visitant, 

 but Sir R. Payne-Gallwey says that it is not very unfrequent ; 

 and there are records of its occurrence in various parts of the 

 island. 



The Little Bittern has been known to straggle to Iceland, 

 the Faeroes, Norway, and Sweden ; and it has been ob- 

 tained on several occasions in Denmark, but its usual migra- 

 tions do not extend beyond the Baltic. South of that line 

 it is found in summer throughout Europe wherever the 

 localities are suited to its habits; but even from Spain, 

 Italy, and other southern countries, it takes its departure in 

 autumn, returning in April. Westward its range extends 

 to Madeira and the Azores. In Asia our Little Bittern is 

 found from the Caspian to Cashmere — where it breeds — 

 Nepal, and the north-west of India ; but to the eastward it 

 is replaced by an allied species, Ardctta sinensis, in which 

 the back is brown instead of black. Our bird is distributed 

 over the greater part of North Africa, and migrates in some 

 numbers as far south as the Transvaal, but the represen- 

 tative species of South Africa is A. j^odiceps. In America 

 there is a still smaller species, A. exilis. 



The Little Bittern inhabits marshes by the sides of rivers, 

 plantations of osiers, and other moist situations in which 

 reeds and aquatic herbage grow luxuriantly ; and in these it 

 skulks during the greater part of the day, becoming more 

 lively towards the evening. Its food is the fry of fish, frogs, 

 and other small reptiles, mollusks, and insects. The note 

 of the male is described by the Eev. T. Frere as " resera- 



