510 BRITISH BIRDS. 
BOTAURUS MINUTUS. 
LITTLE BITTERN. 
(PLATE 88.) 
Ardea ardeola, Briss. Orn. v. p. 497, pl. xl. fig. 1 (1760). 
Ardea ardeola neevia, Briss. Orn. v. p. 500, pl. xl. fig. 2 (1760). 
Ardea minuta, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 240 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum— 
Latham, Temminck, Naumann, (Bonaparte), (Dresser), &c. 
Botaurus minutus (Linn.), Bote, Isis, 1822, p. 559. 
Cancrophagus minutus (Linn.), Kaup, Nat. Syst. p. 42 (1829). 
Botaurus pusillus, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 598 (1831). 
Butor minutus (Linn.), Sains, Classif. B. ii. p. 354 (1837). 
Ardeola minuta (Linx.), Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. § N. Amer, p. 48 (1838). — 
Ardetta minuta (Iinn.), Gray, List Gen. B, Append. p. 13 (1842). 
The Little Bittern is another of those birds which were first recorded as 
British by Pennant, who states that a male was shot whilst perched on 
one of the trees of the public walks in Shrewsbury (Brit. Zool. 11. p. 537); 
and Latham records a second example killed in 1773, near Christchurch, 
in Hampshire (Gen. Syn. iii. p. 66). It is a very rare summer visitor to 
this country, but there is no reliable instance of its eggs ever having been 
obtained in our islands. It has occurred most frequently on the marshes 
of the Norfolk broads, but has also been obtained in most counties on the 
south and east coasts of England. In Scotland and in Ireland it is much 
rarer; but it has occurred both in the Shetland and Orkney Islands, and 
also in Aberdeenshire and East Lothian, and at least half a dozen times in 
Ireland. The Little Bittern has been obtained most frequently in our 
islands in spring and summer, but several examples have been shot in 
winter. 
The Little Bittern is a summer migrant to Europe south of the Baltic, 
and has occurred as an accidental straggler in Iceland, the Faroes, and the 
Scandinavian peninsula. It is a resident in the Azores, Madeira, Algeria, 
and to a limited extent in Egypt, and winters in various parts of South 
Africa as far south as the Transvaal. It is a summer visitor to Palestine, 
Asia Minor, Persia, Baluchistan, Cashmere, North-west Turkestan, and 
the Western Himalayas. 
The Little Bittern has several very near allies. To the east, ranging 
through India, China, Japan, the Philippines, and Celebes, it is represented 
by Ardea sinensis, a very distinct species, which may at once be distin- 
guished by having the back brown instead of black. But there are three 
black-backed species which appear to be very closely allied to our bird; 
all of these may be distinguished from it by having the neck rich dark 
