THE HERONS 2065 



elongated wings are rounded at their extremities. There is but little difference 

 between the plumage of the young and mature birds. Although inferior in size to 

 the heron from which it differs markedly in its much shorter and thicker neck, 

 larger and plumeless head, and shorter beak, the bittern is a decidedly striking 

 bird; and its mottled plumage of buff, brown, and black, is adapted to harmonize 

 with the dead stalks of the reeds and flags among which it habitually skulks. As 

 regards coloration, the crown of the head is black with a tinge of bronzy green, 

 the elongated feathers at the back of the head and nape being barred with black 

 and buff; the remainder of the body plumage is characterized by having a buffish 

 ground variously marked with reddish-brown and blackish-brown flecks, bars, and 

 streaks, with a dark stripe from behind the angle of the beak, and another down 

 the front of the throat. The primaries are mingled grayish black and chestnut, 

 and the tail feathers reddish brown with black markings. The beak is greenish 

 yellow, tending to horn color at the tip, the lore green, the iris yellow, and the 

 leg and foot green with pale horn-colored claws. In length a male bittern may vary 

 from twenty-eight to thirty inches. The American bittern {B. lentiginosus) , which 

 is an accidental visitor to Britain, differs from the common species, not only by its 

 inferior size and more slender limbs, but likewise by the uniformly lead-brown hue 

 of the primary quills of the wings. 



The common bittern, like so many members of the present family, has a wide 

 geographical distribution, extending all over Europe as far north as latitude 60 

 and even to 64 on the Yenisei, in Asia, and ranging eastward through Central Asia 

 to China and Japan. It also occurs in Persia and Northern and Central India, as 

 well as in Burma, and likewise ranges over the whole of Africa, in localities suited 

 to its habits. The New- World species is found over the greater part of North 

 America. The bittern is essentially a bird of the swamps, among the reeds and 

 bulrushes of which it either skulks in the rail-like manner shown in the central fig- 

 ure of our illustration, or stands erect, as depicted in the background, when it pre- 

 sents a strange resemblance to a pointed stump. When disturbed in the day among 

 a bed of reeds, it generally rises within easy shot, and after flapping lazily along for 

 a short distance, once more takes to covert. While on the wing, it utters a resound- 

 ing cry, replaced during the breeding season by the hollow boom, from which the 

 bird derives its name; and in its evening flights the bittern is said to soar in circles 

 to vast heights. The breeding season in Europe commences in March and April, 

 and the nest, which is formed of a mass of reeds and flags is placed either in thick 

 covert, or on the marge of a swamp. The four eggs are olive brown in color, but 

 may be tinged with green when fresh laid. Among our ancestors the bittern was 

 regarded as a favorite dish; and in Landseer's well-known picture a bittern figures 

 among the offering sent to the abbot of Bolton Abbey. Instead of booming, the 

 American species during the breeding season utters a cry which has been compared 

 to the sound produced by hitting a stake with a mallet. Writing of the American 

 bird, Dr. Coues observes that-" when the bittern is disturbed at his meditation, he 

 gives a vigorous spring, croaks at the moment in a manner highly suggestive of his 

 displeasure, and flies off as fast as he can, though in rather a loose, lumbering way. 



For some distance he flaps heavily with dangling legs and outstretched neck, but 

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