356 



Birds. 



THE BITTERN, (Botaurus stellaris,) 



Is not quite so large as the common heron ; its head is 

 small, narrow, and compressed at the sides. The crown 

 is black, the throat and sides of the neck red, with nar- 

 row black lines, and the back of a pale red, mixed with 

 yellow. The claws are long and slender, the inside of 

 the middle one being serrated, the better to enable it to 

 hold its prey. The bill is about four inches in length. 

 The most remarkable character in this bird is the hol- 

 low and yet loud rumbling of his voice ; his bellowing 

 is heard at the distance of a mile, at the time of sunset, 

 and it is hardly possible to conceive at first how such a 

 body of sound, resembling the lowing of an ox, can be 

 produced by a bird comparatively so small. The boom- 

 ing noise was formerly believed to be made while the 

 bird plunged its bill into the niud ; hence Thomson : 



