30 GRALLATORES. BOTAURUS. BITTERN. 



COMMON BITTERN. 



BOTAURUS STELLARIS, Steph. 

 PLATE VIII. 



Botaurus stellaris, Steph. Shaw's Zool. v. 11. 593. PL 45. 



Botaurus, Briss. Orn. 5. 4-44. 24. PL 37. f. 1. 



Ardea stellaris, Linn. Syst. 1. 239. 21 Lath. Ind. Orn. 2. 680. 18, but not 



var. B Rail Syn. 100. A. 11. Will. 207. 1. 50. 52.Flem. Br. Anim. 



1. 95. 127 Wagler, Syst. Or. 1. sp. 8. 

 Le Butor, Buff. Ois. 7. 411. 21. 

 Heron Grand Butor, Temm. Man. 2. 580. 

 Grosse Rhordromrnel, Bechst. Naturg. Deut. 4. 63. 

 Bittern, Br. ZooL 2. No. 174 Will. (Angl.) p. 282 Lath. Syn. 5. 56. 17. 



Id. Sup. 234 Mont. Ornith. Diet, and Sup Bewick's Br. Birds, 2. 



47 Shaw's ZooL 11. 593. PL 45, &c, 



PROVINCIAL Miredrum, Bull of the Bog, Butter-bump, Bumpy- 

 Cop, Bog-jumper, Bog-blutter, Bittour. 



THE Bittern has lately become, in most parts of Britain, 

 a bird of comparatively rare occurrence, and is now, as a per- 

 manent resident, principally confined to the fens and marshy 

 districts of some of the eastern counties. This desertion has, 

 without doubt, been greatly caused by the system of drain- 

 ing now so prevalent throughout the kingdom ; a natural 

 consequence of the improvements in agriculture, and the en- 

 closure of waste lands. Previous to such improvements, it 

 appears to have been very generally, if not numerously, dis- 

 persed, if we may judge from the various provincial names 

 it has acquired, and was the well known and (by the super- 

 stitious) dreaded inhabitant of all the marshes and extensive 

 quagmires throughout the country. At the present day, the 

 capture of a Bittern is, in many parts of England, a subject 

 of great interest ; and perhaps, with the exception of a few 

 breeding in the marshes of Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, 

 and Norfolk, the stragglers that are met with in other parts 



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