128 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



field of Holme Fen, two or three liimdred yards from 

 New River." I have myself only once met with a 

 Bittern in Northamptonshire. This bird rose from a 

 brook-side near Aldwincle, at the report of my gun 

 fired at a Snipe, on January 5, 1S55. I gave him my 

 second barrel, but he was fully 70 yards from me, and 

 flew apparently uninjured across two broad meadows 

 and the river, finally settling in a fence near Tich- 

 marsh Mill ; we f(jllowed him up, and he is now the 

 only Northamptonshire specimen of his species in my 

 collection. I am acquainted with about twenty 

 occurrences of the Bittern it our county besides that 

 just recorded, and may mention amongst the most 

 recent of them, one shot near Ashton in 1884, and 

 presented by me to the Northampton Museum, one 

 near Faxton in 1888, reported to me by Mr. William 

 Bazeley, and one shot at Blatherwycke on New Year's 

 day 1890, reported by Mr. H. O'Brien. The Bittern 

 may now be looked upon as an irregular and rather 

 uncommon winter visitor to the United Kingdom ; 

 the records of its breeding of late years have been 

 very few and far between, even in districts so well 

 adapted to its habits as the " Broad " country of 

 Norfolk and Sufi"olk, and it is a somewhat singular 

 coincidence that my brother-in-law shot his only 

 Bittern in the former county on the same day that I 

 killed my bird in ours. The favourite haunts of the 

 Bittern are reed-fens, or extensive stretches of rough 

 sedge interspersed with patches of reeds, amongst 

 which our bird passes the day in an apparently drowsy 

 state, though always ready to seize and devour any 

 small animal that may come within reach — beasts, 

 birds, reptiles, fishes, and certain insects, are all 

 welcome to him if not too large ; I am inclined to 



