146 BIRDS OF LANCASHIRE. 



GENUS NYCTICOEAX. 



NIGHT-HERON. 



Nycticorax griseus (Linnfeus). 



A fine specimen of the Night-Heron was shot on the 

 marsh near Grange-over-Sands in May 1848 (Ant. 

 Mason), and in Morris's NaturaUst, 1853, Mr. James 

 Bost says one is in his possession, killed near Blackpool 

 on Jmie 14, 1853, a description following, which shows 

 it to have been in the plumage of the adult. Mr. 

 Chamberlain Starkie writes me that he got a young 

 bird at Ashton Hall in the spring of 1879. Byerley 

 says ("Fauna of Liverpool," 1856) that he remembers 

 two or three instances of the Night-Heron having been 

 shot within the last twenty years. 



GENUS BOTAUEUS. 

 BITTERN. 

 BoTAURUs STELLARis (Liimseus). 

 Local Names — Bitter-hnmp, Bittcry-hnmp. 



The Common Bittern is now only a winter visitor, but 

 occurs so frequently as to make the list of its captures 

 not worth detailing. Out of the score or so which I find 

 recorded during the last forty years, almost all have 

 been taken in December and January ; and the 15th 

 of April, when the last I have heard of was shot, m 

 1882, at Lytham, is an unusually late date. The 

 Bittern is naturally most often seen upon the low-lying 



