CAME BIRD8. 



THE BITTERN 



Was associated with the heron, as one of the " great flight," and 

 protected by severe penalties ; but from the superior delicacy of 

 its flesh, was much sought for by the sportsman, and is now com- 

 paratively scarce. It is a truly delicious table fowl ; if possible, 

 superior to the pheasant. It breeds in the fenny counties in 

 England, and we have frequently met it in Ireland, where it hides 

 in sedges by day, and frequents wild morasses, and the oozy 

 banks of large rivers, where extensive tracts, overgrown with 

 flags, weeds, and bulrushes, afford it an asylum. In the midst of 

 those it crouches during the day, and is with difficulty roused to 

 take wing. Persons frequenting the sedgy sides of unfrequented 



