THE LITTLE BITTERN. €9 



Ardeola minuta, Dresser, B. Eur. vi. pi. 401 (1880). 



{Plate LXVIIL) 



Adult Male. — General colour above black with a greenish gloss, 

 including the scapulars, lower back, rump, and upper tail- 

 coverts ; lesser wing-coverts ochreous-buff, the median series 

 lavender-grey ; the greater coverts whitish ; the bastard-wing, 

 primary-coverts, and quills black ; tail black ; crown of head 

 and crest greenish-black ; hind-neck bare, but hidden by 

 ruddy isabelline feathers ; sides of face washed with vinous, 

 the sides of the hinder crown decidedly more ashy ; under 

 surface of body ochreous-buff, the sides of the throat, abdo- 

 men, and under tail-coverts buff; the feathers of the chest 

 elongated, some of the feathers white, buff towards their 

 ends, the long feathers on the sides of the breast blackish 

 with buff margins ; the sides of the body with narrow mesial 

 shaft-lines of brown ; under wing-coverts and axillaries white ; 

 bill purplish-yellow ; feet greenish-yellow, soles light yellow ; 

 iris orange-yellow. Total length, 1 1 inches ; culmen, i '9 ; 

 wing, 57 ; tail, I'S ; tarsus, 175. 



Adult Female. — Different from the male. General colour 

 above chestnut-brown, including the scapulars and inner 

 secondaries, all the feathers edged with ochreous-buff, pro- 

 ducing a streaked appearance ; wings and tail as in male ; 

 sides of face and the frill concealing the neck rather more 

 rufous than in the male, the neck-feathers strongly inclining to 

 chestnut ; under surface of body distinctly streaked, with dusky 

 centres to the feathers of the throat and fore-neck ; the flanks 

 and breast also streaked with blackish centres to the feathers. 

 Total length, 12 inches; culmen, 1-9; wing, 5*8; tail, i'8; 

 tarsus, 1-8. 



Range in Great Britain. — The Little Bittern, which visits the 

 neighbouring countries of Europe every summer, has occurred 

 on many occasions all over the United Kingdom, though 

 naturally its presence has been more plentifully noted in the 

 southern and eastern counties of England. That it formerly 

 bred with us is undoubted, and, according to Mr. Howard 

 Saunders, recent instances of its doing so are not unknown. 



Range outside tlie British Islands. — The Little Bittern is generally 



