174 THE COMMON BITTERN 
In Sir Thomas Browne’s time, it was common in Norfolk, and was 
esteemed a better dish than the Heron. 
Willughby, who wrote about the same time, 1676, says: 
‘The Bittern, or Mire-drum, it is said, makes either three or five 
boomings at a time—always an uneven number. It begins to 
bellow early in February, and continues during the breeding season. 
The common people believe that it thrusts its beak into a reed, 
and by the help of this makes its booming. Others maintain 
that it imitates the lowing of an ox by thrusting its beak into 
water, mud, or earth. They conceal themselves among rushes 
and reeds, and not unfrequently in hedges, with the head and 
neck erect. In autumn, after sunset, they are in the habit of 
rising into the air with a spiral ascent, so high that they are lost. 
sight of. Meanwhile they utter a singular note, but not at all 
resembling the characteristic ‘ booming’. 
It is called Botaurus, because it imitates boatum taurt, the bellow- 
ing of a bull. Of ‘ Botaurus’, the names ‘ Bitour’ and Bittern 
are evident corruptions; and the following names, in different 
languages, are all descriptive of the same peculiar note: Butor, 
Rordump, Myredromble, Trombone, Rohrtrummel, Rohrdommel, 
and Rordrum. 
Of late years, so unusual has the occurrence become of Bitterns 
breeding in this country, owing to collectors, that the discovery 
of an egg in Norfolk has been thought worthy of being recorded 
in the transactions of the Linnean Society ; and even the appearance 
of a bird at any season finds its way into the provincial newspapers 
or the magazines devoted to natural history: Stuffed specimens 
are, however, to be seen in most collections, where its form and 
plumage may be studied, though its habits can only be learnt, at 
least in England, from the accounts furnished by naturalists of a 
past generation. It comes now only to be shot. 
The Bittern is a bird of wide geographical range, as it resorts, 
more or less, to all countries of Europe and Asia. Specimens 
are said to differ much in size, some being as large as the Heron, 
others considerably less; but there is no reason to suppose that 
they are of different species, a similar variation having been 
observed in other birds, as in the Curlew, for example, of which I 
have had in my possession at once four or five specimens all of 
different dimensions. 
The Bittern builds its nest on the ground, and lays four brown 
eggs, whichare tinged with ash or green. The old bird, if wounded, 
defends itself in the same way as the Heron. 
