152 BIRDS OF CHESHIRE. 
Upton, Bidston Marsh, Hoylake, and Irby are men- 
tioned by Byerley as localities in Wirral where the bird 
has been seen.! Brockholes records one that was shot 
in 1857 or 1858 by a farmer as it rose from a pond near 
Higher Tranmere,? and another was obtained between 
Upton and Greasby in 1892.8 
Dr. Dobie mentions three taken on the Eaton Estate, 
one of which is in the possession of Mr. H. Garland, 
who states that the Bittern frequently visited the 
Duckwood at Eaton in past years. One was shot at 
Oakmere some thirty years ago, and another by Mr. 
A. Cookson at Delamere about the year 1887. An 
example now in the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, was 
shot on Tarporley Racecourse on January 25th, 1893, 
by Mr. J. Rutter, who says he saw another bird in 
company with it; and one has been obtained at Tiverton 
in the same neighbourhood? 
A male was shot on the Mersey at Thelwall on 
January 12th, 1854, by Mr. James Taylor Mr. J. W. 
Lewis tells us that a Bittern was shot near Alsager in 
1895; another, a male, was killed on December 21st 
of the same year at Marbury, near Whitchurch ;° and 
Mr. W. H. Peterkin has seen one that was obtained 
at Lymm in December 1897. The late T. W. Barlow 
had a specimen which was shot on Rudheath by a man 
named Isaac Gallimore, who informed him that in 
former years the boom of the Bittern was not infre- 
quently heard at Brereton Mere.® 
Byerley, op. cit. p. 18. 
Brockholes, op. cit. p. 11. 
> Dobie, op. cit. p. 319. 
4 N. Cooke, Zoologist, ser. 1. vol. xii. p. 4254. 1854. 
5 Forrest, Fauna of Shropshire, p. 140. 
6 T. W. Barlow, Ms. 
1 
2 
3 
