28 BRITISH BIRDS. WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



be observed perched on trees near marshes, in their curious erect attitude with 

 sky-pointed bill ; but very shortly they commence to give their attention to 

 domestic and family concerns. During the amorous season, the male may be 

 heard uttering, from amid the thickets, a modified boom, as contrasted with the 

 call of the true Bittern, " resembling the syllable punim, several times repeated," 

 or "woogh, woogh," as Lord Lilford writes it, "a sort of deep guttural cough," 

 to which the female replies with a sharper " gett, gett." 



The nest is carefully hidden away among dense reeds, in shallow water, almost 

 on the level of the marsh, or sometimes a little elevated above it, or even on a 

 willow stump or low tree. It is a rather massive structure, six to seven inches 

 across, composed of dry flag-leaves lined with rushes, softer bits of flag, or grasses, 

 wherein are laid five to nine dull greenish-white or, according to Mr. Seebohm, 

 pure white oval eggs, small in comparison with the apparent size of the bird, 

 the body of which, however, is not so large as its full, and often semi-erect, plumage 

 suggests. After sixteen or seventeen days of incubation, the chicks emerge from 

 the eggs, their pinkish flesh-coloured bodies covered with a stiff reddish-yellow 

 down, somewhat longer on the top of the head, and on the back, than elsewhere. 

 The bare skin about the head, and the/ legs, and the shorter bill, are yellowish 

 green. The squabs are helpless, and require the fostering care of the parents till 

 they are able to fly. The downy covering very soon gives place to a plumage in 

 both sexes, which nearly resembles the adult female's ; but, according to Mr. 

 Seebohm, the chestnut on the back of the neck is duller, and the feathers have 

 pale tips ; the back also being darker and duller, while the wing-coverts have 

 dark centres. The sides of the head, the chin, throat, and fore-neck, are buff, 

 each with a broad, dark brown centre. This plumage is followed by one inter- 

 mediate between it and the male or female adult dress. 



The Little Bittern migrates southward in September, but occasionally a few 

 individuals remain part of the winter months in their summer quarters. 



The food of this species is much the same as that of the Herons already 

 described small fishes, amphibians, and mice, and any animal-life to be found 

 in the marshes and meres which they frequent. The Little Bittern is chiefly 

 nocturnal in its habits, and during the day it roosts in the dense thickets of 

 reeds, sometimes on a low and thick bush, in a sleepy attitude, often poised on 

 one leg, with the other drawn up close to the body, and buried amid its plumage, 

 with its neck drawn in on its back, and its bill pointing straight up into the air. 

 This erect attitude, and the coloration of their dark green and buffy plumage, 

 with the brown markings of the flanks and throat, especially in the female, enable 

 it to escape detection, often even when one is quite close to it. The bird, one 



