BOTAURUS STELLARIS. 723 
frogs, credit for it; but the Dutch laughed me to scorn for such 
an idea. I tried, guu in hand, several times to approach the spot ; 
but sometimes the place amongst the reeds was inaccessible, at 
others the reeds so thick that I made so much noise in pushing 
my way through them as to frighten my enemy, who immediately 
left off making the unearthly noise in which he appeared to delight. 
One day, however, I heard it in a comparatively open swamp, and 
on walking in a direct line to the spot the noise ceased and a Bittern 
flew up and alighted again within three hundred yards. As I could 
see nothing further, I waited and listened for the noise to recom- 
mence, considering that the snake’s head might, perhaps, be under 
water, as I was standing up to my middle in it amongst the rushes. 
After wailing patiently for nearly half-an-hour, and watching care- 
fully, I heard the noise begin again from the direction in which the 
Bittern had flown. Proceeding thither, I again flushed the bird ; 
the noise ceased. A third time the same thing happened; so 
without doubt the Bittern makes this extraordinary noise, which 
may be regarded as a love-note, and that apparently by drawing 
in the air and forcing it out again. The skin of the neck being 
exceedingly loose, the bird probably has the power of inflating it. 
Tadpoles and small frogs form its principal diet.” Mr. F. A. Barratt 
gives the following note :—“ The Bittern is found plentifully in the 
district of Potchefstroom. Their booming note used at one time to 
frighten the Boers that they would never go into a vley, even on 
horseback, when they heard it, believing it was a large snake. 
I have shot them near Bloemfontein, Orange Free State, but 
never further north than about thirty miles north of Potchef- 
stroom.” It does not seem to occur in South-Western Africa, as 
Mr. Andersson did not meet with it, nor has it yet been procured 
in Angola by Senor Anchieta. 
General colour ochreous, profusely variegated with wavy lines of 
dark brown; top of head deep brown; chin white, or pale-ochreous; 
the markings on the back assume a bolder character than those on 
the other parts of the body; the neck is furnished with a ruff, which 
can be expanded at pleasure. Length, 2’ 4"; wing, 12”; tail, 4’. 
“Tris brownish-yellow; bill greenish, brown on the ridge; tarsi 
and feet greenish-yellow ” (Ayres). 
Fig. Dresser, B. Eur. vi, pl. 400. 
