BITTERN. 



confounded with, or merged in, that of the common 

 heron, as the type of the genus Ardea. 



The length of the full-grown male is sometimes t.wo 

 feet and a half, but generally rather less ; and from 

 the length of the legs, and the length and erect ness 

 of the neck, the height to the top of the head, when 

 the bird stands up, is nearly equal to the length. 

 When the length is two feet and a half, the stretch of 

 the wings, from tip to tip, is nearly four feet, and the 

 proportion is preserved in full grown specimens 

 of whatever size. The wings thus bear neaily the 

 same proportion to the length of the body as those 

 of the heron, but they are not so well feathered, ami 

 both they and the bird altngciher are heavier in 

 proportion to the lineal dimensions. It is not, how- 

 ever, so much the want of wings which remit is the 

 bittern so much less a wing bird than the heron, but 

 the difference of its food, and especially of the places 

 where that food is found. When it takes its wheeling 

 flights in the manner which has been described, it 

 (lies, not VI-TV rapidly certainly, but, still with firm wing, 

 and it turns very smoothly and gracefully. It is 

 capable of taking pretty long migratory flights, though 

 it flies high and silently, and is seldom observec 

 during them. Indeed, it is probably more of a migrant 

 than is usua.llv supposed ; for when cultivation make 

 it disappear from those places which have been its 

 haunts, we are not to suppose that it perishes, as wt 

 do not find the bodies or the bones of dead bittern? 

 in the wilds when we begin to lose the sight and the 

 sound of living ones ; and thus the fair inference is 

 that it is capable of removing to a new haunt, even 

 though at the distance of many miles. 



The lofty flight which those birds, which frequent 

 onlv vcrv peculiar places, take when they are once 

 fairly on the wing, answers oilier purposes than that 

 of beiiiLT in a rarer medium, and one in which the 

 currents of the air are much more steady than they 



greater part of the day. The mode of squatting is 

 rather peculiar, and may be understood from the 

 Allowing figure. 



Bittern. 



The neck, when the head is in this posture, \9 

 raised, and the point of the bill directed upwards, the 

 body and legs being, at the same time, in such a 

 position that a violent thrust may be given by the 

 bill, if necessary ; and as the neck is powerful, and at 

 the same time readily moveable in such a manner as 

 to secure the whole "body from attack, there are few- 

 birds of prey that would venture to descend upon the 

 bittern in this position, even if they should see it ; 

 and its form is so unlike that of any bird in a common 

 attitude, and the tints of its plumage so like those of 



are nearer the surface. They are more out of the mu d and half-withered herbage mixed together, that 

 reach of their natural enemies, which are principally it is not easily seen; while, from the elevation of the 

 the harriers, buzzards, and other low-flighted hawks, head, and the position of the eye, it readily commands 

 and they command a wider horizon, and find out more j the whole horizon around it. If it is attacked, its 

 readily the places where it is most advantageous for ; first attempt is to transfix the assailant, by receiving 

 them to alight. When, however, they are settled in a it on the sharp point of the bill, or by an upward 

 locality, their flights are low and short, and if either thrust with that instrument. If it fails in that, it 

 the sportsman or their winged foes can succeed in alters its mode of warfare, by throwing itself on its 



raising them, they become a more easy prey than 

 many birds which are far less powerful. Thus the 

 common snipe costs the peregrine falcon more trouble, 

 and so does the lapwing the jer-falcon, than the bittern 

 costs the rnoor buzzard, if the buzzard can keep it on 

 the wing. 



The wing is not, however, the bittern's means of 

 escape from its enemies, especially where it nestles 

 and inhabits. Its feeding time is in the twilight of 

 the morning and evening, and probably during the 

 whole of the night, when the moon shines clear, or 

 where the place is so far to the northward as that a 

 blight, twilight continues all the night. This last 

 circumstance may, indeed must, be One of the reasons 

 why those birds which teed in the twilight have in 

 general a tendency to move polarly in the summer. 

 The more northerly, in our hemisphere, the longer 

 the twilight, and therefore the longer the portion of 

 each day during which they can procure food for them- 

 selves and their young at that season when they stand 

 most in need of it. 



Even when not upon the nest, the bittern squats 

 among the rushes, or other tall stems, during the 



back, and fighting desperately with both bill and 

 claws, and it is so strong, and so ready in the use of 

 these, that it makes a very stout resistance. 



The common bittern is widely distributed, being 

 found in Europe and Asia, and also in America; and 

 this general distribution would of itself lead to the 

 conclusion that the birds are capable of migratory 

 flights. In every part of the world, however, they 

 are rarely to be seen, though in all places where they 

 breed they are pretty certain of being heard about 

 the commencement of the breeding time. 



The particular characters of this species, besides 

 the dimensions as already stated, are : the bill, from 

 the tip to the hollow of the gape, about four inches, 

 or nearly so, in length (which, from its form and the 

 firmness of its substance, makes it a very formidable 

 weapon), and it is of a dark colour for the greater 

 part of its length, but greenish at the base of the 

 lower mandible. The naked skin at the gape, and 

 the naked parts of the legs, are nearly of the same 

 colour, but the legs have a very slight tinge of a 

 reddish hue along with the green. The feathers on 

 the forehead and crown are black, but the general 



