LITTLE BITTERN. COMMON BITTERN. 159 



specimen, killed in Mr. Heath's marshes at Horning, was 

 sold in Yarmouth to some local collector, and on the 

 3rd of September, 1864, the last that has been observed 

 in this county was shot off a " rand " on Horsey Mere. 

 This bird, which was in perfect plumage, was sent to 

 London by Mr. Rising, to be stuffed, but he assures 

 me that the specimen returned to him, as his own, had 

 not the slightest resemblance to the one he forwarded, 

 which he has never been able to recover. 



From this list of some twenty specimens, all pro- 

 cured within the bounds of the " Broad " district, 

 either in Norfolk or Suffolk, it will be seen that taking 

 only the cases in which the exact dates are known, no 

 less than nine have been killed during the summer 

 months (May, June, and July) ; four in winter 

 (December and February) ; and one only in autumn 

 (September). With reference to the somewhat puzzling 

 plumage of this species, Messrs. Gurney and Fisher 

 remark that, " from an inspection of the specimens 

 obtained, from time to time, in this district, we incline to 

 the opinion that, if the females of this species ultimately 

 arrive at a plumage similar to that of the adult males, 

 as is asserted by modern naturalists, it is only at a much 

 more advanced period than that at which the same 

 plumage is assumed by the latter, and it appears quite 

 certain that the female in the supposed immature 

 plumage pairs with the adult male." 



BOTAURUS STELLARIS (Linn*.) 

 COMMON BITTERN. 



It is a remarkable fact, as I have before stated, that 

 of the rarer species recorded by Sir Thomas Browne 

 as nesting in Norfolk in 1671, but two, the spoonbill 



