INTRODUCTION. 37 
our coasts, at least in our Northern Counties, searching the pools 
left at low water for crabs, shrimps, or other small marine 
creatures. ‘ 
Amongst foreign allied forms may be mentioned the Night- 
heron, which occasionally visits this country ; as also, though 
very rarely, does the beautiful Little Egret (Ardea garzetta) and 
the great White Egret, which breeds regularly in Southern 
Fig. 36. 


Seria “< 
oman 
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1 
The Sun-bittern (Eurypyga helias). 
Russia and the Lower Danube. The Bittern (Botaurus: stel- 
laris), a shy bird, noted for its peculiar guttural, booming cry, 
now only a winter visitant to England, is an example of a slightly 
different form. Of Herons and Bitterns there are altogether 
about eighty-two different species. The Bird known as the 
Sun-bittern (Hurypyga helias) is very unlike the true Bitterns. 
It has a very thin neck, and is marked in a peculiar way with 
transverse stripes of white, brown, and black, so that, once 
