330 THE HERON 



BITTERN [Botdurus stelldris stelldris (Linnaeus). Butterbump, mire-drum, bog- 

 drum. French, grand butor; German, grosse Rohrdommel; Italian, tarabuso]. 



1. Description. The bittern may be distinguished from all other British 

 birds by the absence of contour feathers along the back of the neck, excepting only 

 the American-bittern and little-bittern, from which it differs by the barring on the 

 remiges. The sexes are alike, and there is no seasonal change of plumage. (PI. 169.) 

 Length 28 in. [711 mm.]. The general coloration is of a golden buff, variously barred 

 and blotched with black. The crown and nape are uniformly black. The feathers 

 of the fore-part of the neck are much elongated, and form a large, erectile frill. The 

 throat is white; down the middle line of the neck runs a band of dark brown, 

 which is bounded on either side by a similar band continuous above with a black 

 moustachial stripe, and these bands are contrasted with a pale buff ground-colour. 

 The marginal region of this frill is marked with fine transverse bars of black. The 

 iris is yellow, the bare area around the eye, and the beak are of an ochreous green, 

 while the legs and feet are grass green. The juvenile plumage does not differ from 

 that of the adult, and the coloration of the quills is almost uniform. The young in 

 down is of a rusty yellow colour, [w. P. P.] 



2. Distribution. Formerly the bittern bred in many parts of England, 

 Wales, Southern Scotland, and Ireland, but it gradually became extinct as a breed- 

 ing species. The latest recorded instances of nesting were at Wilstone reservoir, 

 Herts, in 1849, and in Norfolk (Upton Broad) in 1868 ; but a young bird with down 

 adhering to its plumage was obtained in Norfolk in 1886, and breeding probably 

 also took place in Hants about 1886-1889. In 1911 a pair again succeeded in rearing 

 young in Norfolk. On the Continent it visits South Sweden in small numbers, and 

 has nested in Southern Finland, while in Russia it ranges north to the south of the 

 Archangel government, but only to lat. 57 hi the Urals. Southward it is found 

 in suitable localities over the rest of the Continent to the Mediterranean, except 

 Denmark, and is not uncommon in Friesland. It also breeds in Sicily, Sardinia, and 

 North-western Africa, while in Asia it is found across the Continent east to Japan, 

 south to Turkestan, Asia Minor, and perhaps Persia and Palestine, and north to 64 

 on the Yenisei, 65 on the Lena, and 67 on the Yana. It is replaced by closely 

 allied forms in South Africa and North America. Northern birds are migratory, 

 wintering in the Mediterranean region and from the Persian Gulf to India. The 

 American race has occurred as a casual in Greenland, Iceland, and the British Isles. 

 [F. o. B. J.] 



