566 ARDEID/E. 



lodged in a furrow, and partly covered by a naked membrane. Legs of 

 mean length ; toes long and slender, all unequal, the middle toe as long 

 as the tarsus ; hind toe long, articulated with the interior toe, and on the 

 same plane : claws long, that of the middle toe pectinated. Wing long, 

 rather rounded, the first three quill-feathers the longest, and those nearly 

 equal. 



THE LITTLE BITTERN is the smallest British example 

 of the family to which it belongs, and will be perceived to 

 differ from the true Herons in having little or no bare 

 space above the tarsal joint, and that its toes are also much 

 longer. M. Temminck does not admit the generic distinc- 

 tion of the Bitterns proper, but separates them from the 

 Herons as a section. Pennant, who plainly saw that the 

 Little Bittern possessed some of the characters of both 

 Herons and Bitterns, called this bird the Little Bittern 

 Heron. Some authors have originated a genus for the 

 reception of the bjrds intermediate in character between 

 the true Herons and the true Bitterns : I have, however, 

 with Mr. Selby and Mr. Gould, included our bird among 

 the true Bitterns. 



The Little Bittern is a native of the southern parts of 

 Europe, the south-western parts of Asia, and probably of 

 a large portion of Africa, being found in Barbary, where 

 Dr. Shawe says it is called Boo-onk (long neck) ; it is 

 found at Madeira, and as far south as the Cape of Good 

 Hope, from whence specimens were brought by Dr. 

 Andrew Smith. 



In this country, the Little Bittern may be considered 

 rather as a summer visitor, most of the recorded examples 

 having been obtained between spring and autumn. The 

 Rev. Richard Lubbock, however, sent me word that the 

 specimen mentioned by Mr. Paget, in his Sketch of the 

 Natural History of Yarmouth, page 7, as in the collection 

 of Mrs. J. Baker, was in immature plumage, was caught by 

 a water-dog at Hickling, near Ludlam, during the extreme 



