BITTEKN. 147 



peat-mosses and marsh lands, and there is no doubt 

 that, years ago, in their unreclaimed state, these were 

 tenanted for the purposes of breeding. Mr. John Weld 

 says that this bird was not so scarce about Leagram, 

 when the county was less drained, and that it was 

 often heard l)Ooming in the marshy lands at night. He 

 remembers one or two specimens being obtained 

 previous to 1840, but it is now never seen in the neigh- 

 bourhood. Mr. E. J. Howard is informed that, sixty 

 years ago, it was common on Martin Mere : no 

 specimens, however, have been taken there for twenty 

 years, and the last, which was shot about that time ago, 

 is now preserved at Crossens. The feathers of the 

 Bittern are in great repute amongst anglers, and Mr. E, 

 Standen was told in 1878 by an ancient follower of the 

 craft that the most " killing fly " he ever made was 

 from a Bittery-bump's feathers, which had been shot 

 about forty years before at St. Michael's-on-Wyre. This 

 fact may be presented to the angling fraternity without 

 its probably having any effect in making the species 

 still more scarce, for the progress of agriculture will 

 certainly prevent its ever again becoming common. 



AMEPiICAN BITTERN. 



BoTAURus LENTiGiNosus (Montagu). 



A male of this species was reported by Mr. eTames 

 Cooper {Zoohxjisf, 1845, p. 1248) as having been killed 

 near Fleetwood on the 8th of December, 1845. It is 

 now in the Preston Museum. 



L 2 



