AMERICAN BITTERN. 



HERODIONES. 



213 



BoTAUEUs LENTiGiNosus (Montagu*). 



THE AMERICAN BITTERN. 



Botaurus lentiginosus. 



The American Bittern is an accidental visitor which 

 has occurred more than twenty times in the British Islands. 

 The first instance on record is that of the bird shot by Mr. 

 Cunningham, on the banks of the Froome, in the parish of 

 Piddletown, Dorsetshire, in the autumn of 1804. The flight 

 was said to be rather rapid, and the bird made a noise some- 

 thing like the tap on a drum, which induced him to believe 

 it was the Common Bittern, and as such he sent it to 

 Colonel George, of Penryn, in Cornwall, who was at that 



Ardca Icntir/iuosa, Montagu, Suppl. Orn. Diet. (LSla). 



