BITTERN. P51 
there is a cutting from a local newspaper, recording the 
shooting of the bird, across which the date, ‘July 16th, 
1865, is written in ink. 
LITTLE BITTERN. 
ARDETTA MINUTA (Linnzus). 
The Little Bittern, an occasional visitor to the British 
Islands, has only been obtained twice in Cheshire. A 
female was shot by Mr. C. H. Poole on Marbury Mere, 
near Whitchurch, in July 1881.1. It was preserved by 
the late Harry Shaw of Shrewsbury, and is now in Mr. 
Poole’s collection. On October 29th, 1893, Mr. James 
Gibson killed a male in the marshes of the Wirral 
coast near Wallasey. This bird is now in the Gros- 
venor Museum, Chester. 
BITTERN. 
BOTAURUS STELLARIS (Linnezus). 
Bittor, Bitter-bump. 
Until early in the present century the Bittern pro- 
bably nested regularly in the reed-beds fringing the 
meres, for in the country lying between Northwich 
and Macclesfield we have been told by men advanced 
in years that their parents were well acquainted with 
its booming notes. But in Cheshire, as elsewhere, the 
Bittern is now only known as a winter visitor, being 
occasionally shot in various places in the lowlands. 
1 Cf. Forrest, Fauna of Shropshire, p. 140. 
2 Field, vol. lxxxil. p. 791. 1893. 
