LITTLE-BITTERN 351 



As is natural in the case of a bird which spends a great part of its 

 life in reed-beds, the little-bittern has extraordinary powers of grasping 

 in its long green toes and claws, and when alarmed can make its way 

 up the big reed-stems with remarkable speed. The loosely jointed legs 

 also enable it to make good its foothold in almost any position, and 

 with the tarsi at different angles, so that it shows a curious indifference 

 to the position of its feet, sometimes grasping a reed with the feet 

 crossed, or standing with the toes of one foot pointing in quite a differ- 

 ent quarter to the toes of the other. It can also revolve without the 

 necessity of altering its foothold when adopting the upright protective 

 attitude. So strong is the prehensile power of the toes, that one bird, 

 when taken in the hand, curled its hind-toes up so that the point of each 

 not only touched the base, but actually curled half way up upon itself. 1 



The usual time of its departure for winter quarters in Africa is 

 during the last weeks of September in middle Europe, and it is only 

 occasionally that a few stragglers delay their start till the first half of 

 October. 



1 Zoologist, 1894, p. 455. 



