COMMON DITTERN. 477 



Transactions of the Linnean Society, mention, that they 

 had once obtained an egg of this bird in the marshes of 

 Norfolk. 



The Bittern constantly feeding at night, is therefore 

 seldom seen on wing in the day, but remains, with head 

 erect, in thick beds of reeds, or conceals itself among flags, 

 rushes, or other rank aquatic vegetation, which afford it a 

 solitary and secure retreat ; from such situations it is with 

 difficulty made to take flight, and when at length obliged to 

 get on wing, the pace is dull and flagging, and seldom sus- 

 tained to any great distance. M. Vieillot says, that in 

 France it is occasionally found in woods. In the spring, and 

 during the breeding-season, the Bittern makes a loud boom- 

 ing or bellowing noise, whence, probably, the generic term 

 Botaunis was selected for it ; but when roused at other 

 times, the bird makes a sharp, harsh cry on rising, not unlike 

 that of a Wild Goose. Specimens are not unfrequently shot 

 from some of the numerous beds of reeds growing by the 

 sides of the Thames on the shores of Kent and Essex. 

 When on the ground wounded, the Bittern will strike at dog 

 or man ; and some care is necessary when about to handle 

 one, to avoid a hard blow from the point of its sharp beak. 

 If a dog advances upon one that is not entirely disabled, the 

 bird throws itself on its back, like a Hawk, and fights with 

 its claws as well as with its beak. Mr. Maxwell, in his 

 Wild Sports of the West of Ireland, describing the sport 

 enjoyed by a friend and himself while shooting over a fen 

 in Ireland, says, " Out of seventy head, we reckoned one 

 Woodcock, and a brace of old Grouse that we found among 

 the heathy banks bordering the fen. We shot six couple of 

 Teal ; and, with one exception, the remainder of the count 

 were Snipes, of which at least a fourth were jacks. In the 

 most impassable section of the morass, old York pointed with 

 more than customary steadiness ; and, it might be fancy, 



