12 LITTLE BITTERN. 



LITTLE BITTERN. 



BOONK. RUFOUS BITTERN. LITTLE HERON. 

 LITTLE BITTERN HERON. LONG-NECK. 



PLATE CLXI. FIGURE I. 



Ardea minnta, LINNAEUS. LEACH. 



Ardea danubialis, GMELIN. 



Ardeola minuta, PRINCE BUONAPARTE. 



Cancrophagus minutus, KAUP. 



Butor minulus, SWAINSON. 



Botaurus pusillus, BREHM. 



THE nest of this bird is generally to be found 

 where flags grow, sometimes near, but at other 

 times farther off from water. It is placed on hummocks 

 in the marshes, or on strewed reeds or flags, a little 

 above the usual rise of the water, and in some instances 

 on the low boughs of an overhanging tree: a few have 

 been found in bushes about a yard from the ground. 

 It is made of such materials as the dry twigs of the 

 willow, grass, reeds, rushes, and flags, and is a shapeless 

 structure. 



The eggs, four, and occasionally five, in number, 

 or even six, according to Mr. Hewitson, are of a pale 

 whitish green colour. Their incubation occupies sixteen 

 or seventeen days. 



