LITTLE BITTERN. 



471 



this country. Montagu, in bis Supplement, says, " A female 

 of tins rare species was shot contiguous to the river Credey, 

 in Devonshire, in the month of May 1808. It was only 

 ■wounded in the wing, and was kept alive for two days ; and 

 it was observed to sit with its neck contracted like the Com- 

 mon Heron, but with the bill pointing upwards. Upon 

 dissection, about forty eggs were counted in the ovaries, some 

 of which were so considerably enlarged, as to induce an 

 opinion that a brood would have been produced in this coun- 

 try, especially as a male was afterwards shot not very distant, 

 and had been previously seen near the same place. A third 

 was also killed in the same neighbourhood during that 

 summer. 



Early in September 1839, Mr. Heysham of Carlisle, sent 

 me word that about two months previous to the date of his 

 letter, a beautiful pair of adult Little Bitterns were shot at 

 or near South Waltham, where it was supposed they had 

 a nest ; and in the summer of 1826, a young specimen of 

 the Little Bittern was shot on the banks of the Thames, 

 near Windsor ; it was believed to have been bred there from 

 the situation being favourable, and the circumstance of a 

 second bird in the same state of ])]umage being seen about 

 the same spot for several days at that time. 



The Little Bittern inhabits marshes by the sides of rivers, 

 plantations of osiers, and other moist situations in which 

 reeds and aquatic herbage grow luxuriantly. They feed 

 upon the fry of fish, frogs, and other small reptiles, mol- 

 lusca and insects. The note of the male, M. Vieillot says, 

 resembles the barking of a large dog, when heard at a dis- 

 tance. The nest is formed upon the ground of flag-leaves 

 and bits of grass, the nest itself being attached to upright 

 growing reeds. The female lays four or five eggs, one inch 

 five lines in length, by one inch and half a line in breadth, 

 of a uniform dull white. 



