146 COMMON BITTERN. 



one gentleman assert, that a heron, if kept a proper 

 time, was excellent eating. 



A specimen of a male Bittern, shot in winter, 

 in the vicinity of Jardine-Hall, has the crown and 

 occiput deep brownish-black, with green and purple 

 reflections; the feathers on the occiput elongated, 

 tipped for half an inch with ochraceous, and there 

 minutely edged with black; under the eye, from each 

 rictus, descends a streak of rich and deep brown ; 

 the centre of the throat is of a paler brown, and 

 between, the tint of the sides of the neck is yellow- 

 ish-white ; the feathers of the sides of the neck are 

 lengthened, and fold over the back part, which is 

 covered only with a thick down ; these can also be 

 thrown forward, and are sometimes made to appear 

 as a ruff. The whole ground colour of the plumage 

 is a pale sienna-yellow, the tint slightly varying in 

 different specimens, and being of a redder colour on 

 the shoulders, quills, and tail ; this ground colour is 

 varied, and rayed in such a manner as to be very 

 difficult to convey by words ; on the back, being 

 confined to the centre of the feathers, it assumes the 

 form of downward broad lines ; but on the sides of 

 the neck, breast, and flanks, it runs in transverse 

 bars and crossings. On the fore part of the breast 

 and neck, where the feathers are lengthened, the 

 one half is brown, the other without markings, 

 which produces to a certain extent the same ap- 

 pearance we saw in the true herons. In the Bittern, 

 about three quarters of an inch of the tibiae is free 

 from feathers, and the proportional development of 



