346 THE HERON 



fact has always been wanting. Most of the occurrences on record 

 in England come from the southern counties and East Anglia, but 

 it has been known to stray even to the Orkneys and Shetlands, and it 

 has visited Ireland on some thirty occasions. In Mr. H. Stevenson's 

 article on this species in the Birds of Norfolk, 1 which was published in 

 1870, it is stated that out of fourteen specimens procured in the 

 Broad district, the exact dates of which are given, nine are known to 

 have been killed in the summer months (May to July), four in winter, 

 and one in autumn, so that it may reasonably be inferred that some 

 of these were breeding at the time. 2 



The little-bittern is a summer visitor to Europe, crossing the 

 Straits of Gibraltar early in May, and making its way across the 

 Mediterranean by way of Malta and Sicily, and also to Greece, where 

 it occasionally arrives in the latter part of March, or more commonly 

 in early April. It appears to migrate by night, either singly or in 

 small flocks, and Kleinschmidt and Hennicke state that the 

 characteristic notes may often be heard from these parties when in 

 flight overhead. Naumann states that in the migration season he 

 has seen single birds rise high in the air at nightfall from a marsh and 

 disappear in the distance. On first reaching the shores of Southern 

 Europe after the passage of the Mediterranean, these birds may be 

 met with in the most unlikely places, but soon pass on and gradually 

 disperse to their breeding-grounds on the Continent. In flight the 

 attitude of this species is not unlike that of a miniature purple-heron. 

 The neck is retracted in the same S-like position which is adopted by 

 the true herons, in this respect differing from the bittern, which may 

 be seen flying with extended neck, as do also the storks. 3 The wing 

 strokes are, however, more rapid than those of the herons, and, as 

 remarked by Naumann, if it were not for the fact that the wings are 

 much broader and more rounded, the flight might be compared to 



1 Vol. ii. pp. 154-159. 



1 See also Lubbock, Observation* on the Fauna of Norfolk, 2nd ed., pp. 89-90; and Zoologist, 

 1895, p. 98. 



9 The figure in Yarrell, ed. 4, vol. iv. p. 200, is quite erroneous, and gives an entirely false 

 impression of this species. 



