COMMON BITTERN 33 
COMMON BITTERN. Botawrus steliaris (Linneus). 
Coloured Figures.—Gould, ‘Birds of Great Britain,’ vol. iv, pl. 
27; Dresser, ‘Birds of Europe,’ vol. vi, pl. 403; Lilford, 
‘Coloured Figures,’ vol. vii, pl. 13. 
This remarkable-looking bird, easily recognised by its 
beautiful rich buff plumage, profusely barred and vermicu- 
~ Jated with black, and also by the development of its neck- 
feathers, which form an erectile frill ike that of the Ruff, 
once bred and was common in many districts of the British 
Isles. Its loud bellowing note was familiar to persons 
residing in the vicinity of the Norfolk Broads, the Cam- 
bridge and Lincolnshire Fens and other suitable districts 
in England and Wales, also over the low-lying marshy 
districts of which so large an area of Ireland is composed. 
But drainage and tillage have now restricted its breeding- 
haunts to such a degree that its nest is nowhere to be found, 
and it is a matter for much regret that many of the adult 
birds which reach us during the winter and might 
possibly remain to breed, are, in a large measure, shot 
even in the close season in spring. At present, the 
majority of Bitterns arrive annually in England and prob- 
ably so in Ireland’ as winter visitors, but in Scotland their 
appearance 1s much more irregular. Stragglers have reached 
the Outer Hebrides (a specimen having been taken on the 
coast of Harris, in January, 1890); while the Shetlands, 
and probably the Orkneys have also been visited (Saunders). 
The Bittern occurs most frequently in December and 
January, and with reference to this fact Mr. Ussher remarks 
that ‘‘it is singular that a species whose breeding-range is 
eastern and southern rather than northern should not 
appear usually in October, but chiefly in mid-winter, when 
we might expect the autumn migration to have ceased.” 
In Ireland it has been recorded most frequently from the 
co. Cork. As an instance of a bird taken recently and 
early in the autumn, I may mention one which was shot on 
August 9th, 1900, on the sea-shore of the co. Down (R. 
Patterson, ‘ Irish Naturalist,’ 1900). 
In its general habits and in the localities which it fre- 
quents the Common Bittern resembles its smaller relative ; 
' Mr. Ussher, however, states that the only place he can name where 
the Bittern seems to occur on an average once a year in Ireland, is in the 
marshes of Lord Castletown’s property in Queen’s County. 
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