250 THE FOWLER IN IRELAND. 



unusually long and powerful. It weighed a trifle 

 under four pounds. 



THE AMERICAN BITTERN (Botanrns lentiginosus) 

 has been occasionally met with by Snipe-shooters 

 in the early part of the season, but it must 

 be regarded as a rare and accidental visitor to 

 Ireland. One, shot near Armagh, on the i2th 

 November, 1845, as recorded by Thompson (vol. ii. 

 p. 1 68), is preserved in the Belfast Museum. 

 Another, shot near Dundalk, co. Louth, on the i8th 

 November, 1868, was presented by Lord Cler- 

 mont to the Museum of the Royal Dublin Society. 

 A third, in the possession of Mr. Fennell, of Gary- 

 roan, was killed at Cahir, co. Tipperary, on the 

 3ist October, 1870. A fourth, in the Cork Col- 

 lege Museum, was shot by Mr. George Cronin, of 

 Bandon, in Anagh Bog, near Kinsale, on the 25th 

 November, 1875 ; and a fifth, obtained early in 

 October of the same year, near Myross Wood, in 

 the west of Cork, is preserved in the collection of 

 Mr. H. P. Townshend, of Derry, Ross Carberry. 



It is noticeable that all the Irish specimens of 

 this bird have been procured in the autumn i.e., 

 in October or November and, with one or two 

 exceptions, the same may be said of the English 

 and Scottish specimens which have been recorded, 

 while the Common Bittern is frequently met with 

 in and after mid-winter. For the benefit of those 

 sportsmen who may not be acquainted with the 

 American bird, I may remark (as Mr. Harting has 

 pointed out in his " Handbook of British Birds," 

 p. 151) that it may always be distinguished 

 from the Common Bittern by its smaller size, with 



