34 ARDEID Ai 
it is often startled from the reeds by the sportsman’s dog, 
sometimes from a most shaky and dangerous quagmire which 
aman dare not traverse. It frequently alights on trees : in 
the co. Antrim in August, 1889, I witnessed a magnificent 
adult bird walking down the branch of a willow tree to the 
river's bank where it ultimately disappeared amidst the tall 
iris flags. The bird carried its head well sunk between the 
Fic. 7—COMMON BITTERN. 
shoulders while its beak pointed in an upward direction ; 
its pace along the branch was slow and measured. 
In close quarters, a wounded Bittern is a most ferocious 
creature ; it les on its back watching its chance, and woe 
betide the man or dog who closes on it incautiously, for 
it can shoot out its neck and inflict an ugly stab with its 
dagger-like beak with surprising speed. 
Voice.—The note, uttered bythe male in the breeding- 
