THE FAMILY OF WADERS. 263 



himself up by the side of that tangle, his danger- 

 ous bill pointing upwards in a line with the great 

 rush-stems, so that you might be within a yard of 

 him and yet not see him. Frequently it has been 

 the case that shooters have had these birds clutter 

 up close to their feet. The postures that the 

 bittern and his dwarf relative will put themselves 

 in to avoid detection, is simply marvellous ; for 

 the little bittern was found in the same locality, 

 one that is little known even now. So well were 

 these strange postures understood, especially when 

 the birds were wounded that is, wing -tipped 

 that the shooters called them "jipeses." As this 

 very peculiar marsh -word, "jipe," was always ap- 

 plied by them to anything monkey-like, the term 

 was a very suitable one. Both birds, the great bit- 

 tern and the little bittern, can climb like cats, the 

 little bittern being an adept at it. Yes, birds that 

 are thought rare now were common enough at that 

 time ; but the three R's, reading, writing, and arith- 

 metic, in their most simple forms, were uncommon 

 in those days. As to the science of ornithology, the 

 very mention of the word would have ostracised you 

 as a "furriner." Still, as I have said before, they 



