212 ARDEID/E. 



of food for the table : the flesh is said to resemble that of 

 the Leveret in colour and taste, with some of the flavour of 

 wild-fowl. Sir Thomas Browne says that young Bitterns 

 were considered a better dish than young Herons. 



The beak is greenish-yellow, the upper mandible varied 

 with dark horn-colour towards the point ; the lore green ; 

 the irides yellow ; the top of the head black, tinged with 

 bronze-green ; the occipital feathers varied with transverse 

 bars of black and pale buff; all the upper surface of the 

 body pale brownish-buff, irregularly marked with black 

 and dark reddish-brown ; the primary quill-feathers mottled 

 with greyish-black and chestnut-colour ; tail-feathers red- 

 dish-brown, varied with black; the cheeks buff; the sides 

 of the neck the same, but with narrow transverse lines of 

 dark brown ; chin pale buffy-white ; from the angles of the 

 mouth, and down the neck in front, are large longitudinal 

 streaks of dark brown and reddish-brown ; the feathers of 

 the breast blackish-brown in the centre with broad margins 

 of bufi"; under surface of the body buff, with narrow streaks 

 of dark brown ; legs and feet grass-green ; claws pale horn- 

 colour, the middle claw pectinated. 



The specimen from which the representation of the Bittern 

 here given was taken was killed some years ago in Denny 

 Bog, in the New Forest, and the bird was sent to the Author 

 by his friend, Major Gilbert, of Bartley, near Lyndhurst. 



The whole length of an adult bird is from twenty-eight 

 to thirty inches. From the carpal joint to the end of the 

 wing, fourteen inches ; the first three quill-feathers nearly 

 equal in length, and the longest in the wing. Neither the 

 females nor the young of the year differ essentially from 

 the males in their plumage. 



The nestling is covered with a rust-coloured hair-like 

 down on the upper parts ; the throat and abdomen dull 

 white. 



