BITTER N. 



colour of the clothing feathers is yellow, with more 

 or less of a reddish brown tinge, and very finely 

 spotted and barred with black ; and it is from the 

 number and regularity of the spots that it gets the 

 name of stellaris, or "starred." The greater coverts 

 of the wings and the quills are more inclining to rust 

 colour, and more thickly and regularly barred with 

 black than the general plumage of the body. The 

 tail is very short, but the closed wings do not reach to 

 the extremity of it. The toes and claws are long, 

 and both rather slender, though the claws are sharp 

 pointed. The claw of the middle front toe is slightly 

 toothed on its inner edge. These are the characters 

 of the male. The female is smaller in size, and the 

 colours of her plumage are not so bright. 



The common bitterns feel the influence of the season 

 rather early. The love song of the male begins early 

 in March, and sometimes even in February, but that 

 depends on the season and the locality ; and it is 

 sometimes begun and continued for a few days, and 

 then left off for a week or more, in consequence of 

 that short supplemental winter, which is pretty regu- 

 lar, as well as severe, in those wild places which 

 bitterns most frequent, and known by the name of the 

 " Lapwing Storm," as these birds and it very fre- 

 quently come about the same time. When this 

 storm, which is never of long continuance, and is 

 often unknown in the low and warm places, or is merely 

 a bleak wind there when it is snow upon the bittern's 

 habitation, is over, the harmony of the bittern begins 

 anew. It is hardly necessary to say, that the once 

 popular notion, that this sound is produced by means 

 of the bill thrust into the quagmire, and aided by the 

 vibrations of that in the jarring sound, is without 

 foundation. Of all imaginable places, a quagmire 

 covered with rushes and other rough herbage, such as 

 that which bitterns frequent, is the least sonorous, or 

 capable of producing, or aiding in the production of 

 sound of any kind; and whatever the note of a bird 

 may be, that note is never produced, or even much 

 modified, by the bill, or the upper end of the trachea. 

 The real organ of voice in birds is always at the 

 bronchial end of that canal, and not at the larynx, or 

 upper end, as in the mammalia. In consequence of 

 this structure, the whole of the trachea is converted 

 into a sort of wind instrument, by which the sound, 

 of which the lower end is the more immediately, or 

 originally producing organ, is modulated in the same 

 manner as the voice of the mammalia is modulated by 

 the palate, tongue, and mouth. Of course the sound 

 wh^ch birds emit varies with the length and form of 

 the trachea, and, just as is the case in the sound of 

 artificial wind instruments, the sound, whatever may 

 be its original quality, is rendered deep and hollow 

 in proportion to the length and size of the trachea, 

 whether the additional length be produced by convo- 

 lutions of that organ, or by a greater length of the 

 neck. When there is a snaking sound, there is of 

 course a vibrating membrane in the original organ of 

 voice ; but whether that shall produce a sharp and 

 clear trill, as in the warblers, or a grating and hollow 

 sound, as in the bittern, depends partly upon the 

 structure of the membrane, and partly upon that of 

 the trachea. Some further observations on this subject 

 will be found in the article VOICE. 



When the male bittern has continued sufficiently 

 long at the exercise of his music, such as it is, for 

 " winning the favour of his dame" (for such is the 

 object of his to us unseemly music), the two, in 



concert, set about preparing the nest that is but a 

 homely structure a rude couch of withered grass or 

 rushes, placed on a hummock, where it is well con- 

 cealed, or upon the short stump of an aquatic shrub, 

 if there happens to be one in the nuptial demesne of 

 the pair. It is never far from the water, because the 

 birds do not range out of the humid places ; but it is 

 always above the " rise" of any ordinary Hood which 

 can take place during the time that it is in use, and it 

 is always formed of dry materials. All nests, indeed, 

 are so, though there has been mention made of some 

 aquatic birds taking advantage of the fermentation of 

 green or moist vegetables, and the heat thereby pro- 

 duced, to assist in the .hatching of their eggs. But 

 the action of water would, even in this way, destroy 

 the principle of life in the eggs, instead ot maturing 

 them ; and therefore, even those eggs which are com- 

 mitted directly to the waters, are so defended by their 

 peculiar tunics, that the water has no direct chemical 

 action upon them. 



The eggs of the common bittern are generally four, 

 though, as is said, they are sometimes five, and they 

 are of a greenish brown colour. The nest is, however, 

 as rarely seen as the birds, because, though, in the 

 early part of the season, the male is noisy enough in 

 the air during the evening twilight, both birds are 

 remarkably silent during the day, and they are always 

 silent when they are at or near the nest. 



The period required for rearing the young is little 

 short of seven weeks, about twenty-four days of 

 which are spent in the hatching of the eggs, and three 

 weeks in feeding the young in the nest. The young 

 differ much from those of the true grallidae in the 

 length of time which they require before they are 

 able in any way to shift for themselves. The young 

 of the true grallidae, though covered with down, and 

 not feathers, when they come out of the shell, are 

 very soon able to run, and in this respect they have 

 some resemblance to the gallinidte ; but those of the 

 bittern are callow and almost naked, and at the same 

 time scraggy and skeleton-like in their form. 



The common bitterns live at all times solitary, or 

 at most in pairs, and never flock, or even congregate 

 together in families ; and as soon as the young are 

 able to shift for themselves, they follow the habit of 

 their parents, and are not seen together till they pair 

 and have families. With the exception of the love- 

 song, which is not long continued, the birds are quiet, 

 and they are quite inoffensive, and never attack or 

 annoy any creature save those small animals which 

 constitute the greater part of their food. In their 

 chosen habitations there are, indeed, few animals with 

 which they can quarrel, even were they so disposed ; 

 and as we have already seen, it is not very safe even 

 for birds of prey to quarrel with them. Nor are they 

 powerful in defending themselves against birds of 

 prey only, for they offer formidable resistance to 

 dogs ; and if the dog is not all the more staunch, he 

 will hardly go in upon the bittern if he gets a thrust 

 from the bill. Even the sportsman, when he only 

 wings the bird, or lames it so that it cannot escape in 

 the ordinary way, but yet retains the greater part of 

 its strength and spirit, must approach it with caution. 

 It strikes so fiercely with the bill, that it can wound 

 the leg through a thick boot ; and if it can strike any 

 part of the body which has not such a protection, the 

 wound which it is capable of inflicting is very severe ; 

 and thus, while it never invades the haunts of man, 

 man docs not invade it in its haunts with impunity. 



