464 BOTAURUS STELLARIS. 
[§ 5235. Zhree.—Utovo-blato, Dalmatia, 2 June, 1902. 
“HH. E. D.” From Mr. Dresser. 
Marked as being from the same nest, and taken by Mr. Dresser. Below 
(§ 5294) will be found his description of the locality, published by him in 
‘The Field’ newspaper of 7 March, 1903.] 
BOTAURUS STELLARIS (Linnzus). 
THE BITTERN. 
§ 5236. One—From Mr. Hoy’s Collection, through Mr. 
Chapman, not later than 1843. 
This rare egg I bought of Mr. Chapman, of York. It was obtained 
at the sale of Mr. Hoy’s collection. Bitterns are now rare in 
England. They used to be plentiful in the Fens within the memory 
of man. A fenman with whom I conversed remembered having 
found their young in Burwell Fen, and having heard them answering 
each other from every side, many years ago. I had the good fortune 
to see Burwell Fen before the new steam-engine began to work. It 
will soon be one vast cornfield. My fenman considered the Bittern 
very good eating. It appears to be a migratory bird; eight or ten 
years since [1843] there were a great many killed near York, and 
later than that there was a great arrival in Cambridgeshire one 
winter, as I am informed. 
20 
chance of its being an English specimen, as Mr. Wolley seems to have thought, 
for though the Bittern undoubtedly bred in Norfolk, to say nothing of other 
counties, in Mr, Hoy’s time, it cannot have been plentiful in any of the places 
where he used to go bird-nesting—Holland excepted. ] 
[It is impossible to say where Mr. Hoy obtained this egg, and I see no great 
§ 5237. One.—From Mr. Green, 1844. 
{Most likely from Holland, whence Mr. Green used to have many eggs. | 
§ 5238. One—* Holland.” From M. Nager, of Andermatt, 
1846. 
§ 5239. One.—Tangier, June 1846. From M. Favier, through 
Mr. Williams, of Oxford Street, 1847. 
This bears a label, in M. Favier’s well-known handwriting, ‘“ Ardea 
