186 THE BIEDS OF OXFOEDSHIEE. 



by the side o£ the adjacent river Thame. [Ornithological 

 Dictionary, 1803, and Siip2:)lement, 181 3.) In 1833 a specimen 

 was shot near Wootton and passed into the Ashmolean 

 Museum ; another, procured near Standlake in the spring 

 o£ 1835, formed part of the Messrs. Matthews' collection 

 [Zoologist, p. 2600.) An adult bird, now preserved at a house 

 in.Bampton, was shot there by its owner's father many years 

 ago. (Rev. J. W. B. Bell in lU) 



THE LITTLE BITTERN. 



Ardetta minuta. 



The Little Bittern is an occasional visitor. A female was 

 shot on Otmoor in 1827, another example on the Cherwell, 

 and a fine specimen near Bampton in 1847 [Zoologid, p. 2601). 

 On Otmoor a Little Bittern was shot by F. Goom, and 

 brought in the flesh to Smith, the bird-stuffer^ in St. Clement's^ 

 Oxford, in 1872. After passing through several hands, it was 

 in 1882 in the possession of Mr. Pearce, of Blackfriars Road, 

 Oxford (H. A. Macpherson ^7^ lit.). One in immature dress, 

 which was shot on the 27th October, 1867, on the Cherwell, a 

 little way below Banbury, is now preserved in that town, and 

 Mr. W. Newton, jun., informs me that another, procured at 

 Bensington some years ago, is in their collection {in lit.). 



On the Berkshire side of the Thames, at Wargrave, a 

 Little Bittern was knocked down with a punt pole, while 

 sleeping on the banks of a pond, on the 4th May, 1867. 

 [Zoologist, ss. p. 829.) j^ 



THE COMMON" BITTERN. ^• 



Botaurns stellaris. 

 The Bittern was formerly a not uncommon bird in Oxford- 

 shire, resident probably on Otmoor and in the low swampy 

 country which at one time bordered the upper reaches of the 

 Isis. Writing, in 1849, the Messrs. Matthews remark, — 'In 

 the Bittern we have another instance of the gradual dis- 



