193 



BITTEUN. 



BITUMEN. 



494 



frogs are ita principal food, adding, "not that it rejects fish, for small 

 trouts have been taken out of its stomach." 



The rude nest of the Bittern is generally formed of reeds, sticks, 

 &c., on some 'tump,' to use Montagu's expression, in a reedy marsh 

 or well-clothed rushy moor, and contains four or five pale green eggs. 

 The time of incubation is about twenty-six days. 



In the palmy days of falconry the Bittern afforded the best of sport. 

 We find it mentioned in the ' flights to the field, called great flights.' 

 " There is yet," says Tubervile, " another kinde of flight to the fielde, 

 which is called the great flight, as to the cranes, wild geese, bustard, 

 birde of Paradise, bittors, shovelars, hearons, and many other such 

 like." Accordingly we find it protected by the severe penalties of 

 the stat, 25 Hen. VIII. c. 11, confirmed by stat. 3 and 4 Edw. VI. c. 7. 

 One year's imprisonment, and a forfeiture of eightpence for each egg, 

 was the punishment awarded to those who destroyed or took away 

 the eggs of the ' bittour.' When the hawk had ' bound with ' the 

 bittern and brought it down, it was the duty of the falconer to make 

 in apace to rescue her, by plunging the bill of the bittern into the 

 ground, to prevent injury to the hawk ; for when wounded the 

 bittern is not daunted, but lies watching his opportunity to dart his 

 spear-like bill at his enemy as soon as he conies within his reach, and 

 as he generally aims at the eye, he should be approached with the 

 greatest caution. The modem sportsman should beat for these birds 

 with pointers or very close-hunting spaniels ; for they are moved with 

 as much difficulty as a jack-snipe, and, like that bird, will often lie till 

 they are almost trodden on, rather than take wing. 



The Bittern was well known to the ancients, and there can be 

 little doubt that it is the 'Ao-repi'as ('EpuSiAs), of Aristotle. (' Hist. 

 Anini.' book is. c. xviii.) In the game chapter its sluggishness and 

 the fable of its origin from slaves metamorphosed into birds are 

 mentioned. Aristotle observes further that the *<ii especially strikes 

 at the eyes; and in the edition of Belon (1557), ' enrichy de quatrains,' 

 we find the following verse below the figure of the ' butor : ' 



44 En tin Butor Phoix, pour fa paresse 

 Put par le dieux change 1 divincmcnt. 

 Un paresseux aussi communement 



Eat (lit Butor, pour son peu d'alegresse." 



The flesh of the Bittern was formerly in high esteem (in the reign 

 of Henry VIII. it was valued at a shilling), nor is it despised in the 

 present day ; when well fed, ita flavour somewhat resembles that of 

 the hare, nor is it rank and fishy, like that of some of its congeners. 

 The long claw of the hind toe is much prized as a tooth-pick, and in 

 the olden time it was thought to have the property of preserving the 

 teeth. 



A paragraph in the last edition of Pennant, signed J. L., written 

 probably by Latham, states that this bird " is said to inhabit the 

 greater part of Africa ; and is certainly found on the coast of Barbary, 



Common Bittern (Holauriu itellarii). 



at the Cape of Good Hope, and also in India and China." Selby 

 observes that its geographical distribution " seems confined to Europe, 

 extending nearly to the confines of Asia ; " but it was in the collection 

 formed in the neighbourhood of Trebizond by Keith E. Abbott, Esq., 



and presented to the Zoological Society by that gentleman. Colonel 

 Sykes notes it as rare in Dukkun (Deccan), and Mr. Gould as inha- 

 biting the three continents of the Old World. In England inclosure 

 and drainage have made the Bittern a very scarce bird, and its capture 

 is no longer an ordinary event. 



In size the Common Bittern is less than the Common Heron, being 

 about 24 feet in length. The bill is about 4 inches long, brown above, 

 greenish below ; irides yellow ; feathers on the crown black, shot with 

 green, those of the hinder part of the head, neck, and breast long and 

 loose ; general colour of the plumage dull pale yellow, variegated 

 with spots and bars of black ; tail short ; legs moderate, pale-green ; 

 toes and claws long and slender, middle claw serrated on the inner 

 edge, most probably to aid it in securing its slippery prey. 



B. minutiu, the Little Bittern, is also a summer inhabitant of Great 

 Britain, and is the smallest British example of the family to which it 

 belongs. It is a native of the southern parts of Europe, the south- 

 western parts of Asia, and probably of Africa generally. It has been 

 killed as far north as Sweden. It is found occasionally in Germany, 

 and is not uncommon in Holland, and occurs in France, Provence, 

 and Italy. 



B. Imtiginosut, the American Bittern, is not quite so large as the 

 Common Bittern. It is a common bird in America from Hudson's 

 Bay to Carolina. It has different names in the various states, such as 

 Indian Billet, Indian Hen, and Dunkadoo. In its habits and voice it 

 is very like the Common Bittern. It has been shot several times in 

 Great Britain ; first at Piddleton, in Dorsetshire, in 1804, and since 

 then in several-other parts of the country. 



(Yarrell, British Birds ; Thompson, Birds of Ireland.) 



BITU'MEN, a Latin word used by Tacitus, Pliny, and other Roman 

 writers. A considerable number of combustible mineral substances 

 are sometimes arranged under the head of Bitumens ; but their pro- 

 perties vary greatly in some respects, as, for example, with regard to 

 solidity, fluidity, and colour. The term Bitumen is however usually 

 applied to two varieties, namely, Aspkaltum [ASPHALTUM], and a softer 

 kind called la#tic Bitumen, which we shall now describe. 



Elastic Bitumen, sometimes called Fossil Caoutchouc, is a rare 

 mineral product, which has hitherto been found in three places only : 

 1st, in the Odin mine, near Castleton in Derbyshire, in a Secondary 

 Limestone, accompanied by asphaltum, calcareous spar, fluor, blende, 

 galena, and pyrites ; 2nd, in a coal-mine of Montrelais, a few leagues 

 from Augers in France, it occurs among quartz and calcareous crystals, 

 in the veins of grit of the Coal Formation ; 3rd, in a coal-mine near 

 South Bury in Massachussets, United States. 



Elastic Bitumen possesses the following characters : It is brown, or 

 blackish brown, and translucent in small portions ; it is soft and 

 elastic like caoutchouc, but sometimes it is as hard as leather : it has 

 the property, like caoutchouc, of effacing pencil-marks. Its density 

 varies from 0'9053 to 1'233. It fuses readily, and at a higher tempera- 

 ture it takes fire and burns with a sooty flame : it sometimes leaves 

 one-fifth of its weight of ashes, composed chiefly of silica and per- 

 oxide of iron. If the Derbyshire Elastic Bitumen be subjected to 

 distillation, it yields acidulous water and volatile oil, resembling that 

 of naphtha in smell : the oil is neither acid nor alkaline, slightly 

 soluble in alcohol, but readily so in ether ; after the distillation of the 

 water and oil, a brown viscid mass remains hi the retort, which is 

 insoluble in water or alcohol, but is dissolved by ether and by potash. 

 If the distillation be longer continued, an empyreuniatic oil resembling 

 that of amber is obtained, and a black shining coal remains. 



When the Elastic Bitumen of Montrelais is similarly treated, there 

 is obtained a yellow bitter fetid oil, which is lighter than water and 

 insoluble in alcohol, but it dissolves in the alkalies. 



Elastic Bitumen swells when put into oil of turpentine or of petro- 

 leum ; ether and oil of turpentine when boiling extract a kind of soft 

 resin from the English and French bitumen, and this remains after the 

 evaporation of the solvent : this resin is of a brownish-yellow colour, 

 is bitter and inelastic ; its weight is nearly half that of the bitumen 

 employed. 



It is but slightly soluble in alcohol, but readily in potash ; it is 

 inflammable, and burns with a smell of petroleum ; that portion of 

 the bitumen which is insoluble in the ether and oil of turpentine, is a 

 grayish dry mass, resembling paper; it burns with difficulty, and 

 carbonises ; potash dissolves only a part of it. If after separating 

 these two principles they are mixed together, the bitumen does not 

 regain its elasticity. 



Concentrated sulphuric acid does not act upon Elastic Bitumen ; 

 but when long boiled with nitric acid it yields resin, tannin, and a 

 little nitroperic acid. According to the analysis of M. Henry, jun., 

 the Elastic Bitumen consists of 



English. French. 



Carbon .... 52-250 . . 58'260 

 Hydrogen .... 7'496 . . 4 '890 

 Nitrogen .... 0-154 . . 0-104 

 Oxygen 40'100 . . 36'746 



100-000 100-000 



Bcrzelius remarks that the difference in the quantity of hydrogen in 

 these specimens is so considerable, that it is surprising thoir properties 

 are not more dissimilar. [NAPHTHA ; PETROLEUM.] 



