LITTLE BITTERN. 511 



chestnut instead of pale buff. The nearest of these to our bird is A. podi- 

 ceps, from South Africa. In Australia A. pusilla is found, which further 

 differs in having the greater wing-coverts chestnut instead of nearly black ; 

 and this difference is still further emphasized in a North- American species, 

 A. exilis, which has the outside. webs of the innermost secondaries also 

 rufous, 



The Little Bittern arrives in South Spain late in April, butin- Greece 

 at the end of March or beginning of April. In the northern portions 

 of its range it does not arrive until May, this being also the time of its 

 appearance in England, where, however, it may sometimes remain during 

 the winter. It leaves Holland and other northern countries in September ; 

 and Irby says that it has left Gibraltar by October. It leaves Greece at 

 the end of September. 



The Little Bittern is very skulking in its habits, and frequents large 

 marshes, swamps, clumps of bulrushes, and large expanses of reeds and 

 rushes. Although it loves to frequent the solitudes of reeds it may some- 

 times be observed in the trees on the borders of the swamps, sitting quite 

 still on the branches, with its neck stretched out and its beak pointing 

 upwards. It is very unwilling to take wing, and sometimes skulks so 

 closely as to allow itself to be caught by a dog, or even taken in the 

 hand. It keeps very close and quiet during the day, coming out at night 

 to feed. When pursued it often perches on the thick stems of the reeds 

 or bulrushes, hopping from one to the other with as much ease as a 

 Reed-Warbler. It is equally agile amongst the branches of trees, and 

 perches in them freely, being more often seen in them than any other 

 Heron. It runs with great quickness amongst the reeds, and threads its 

 way through the dense aquatic vegetation. When flushed it mounts up 

 into the air, and flies rapidly away over the reeds and water with quick 

 and powerful beatings of its broad wings. When standing by the side of 

 the water it draws its head close in between its shoulders and holds its 

 body erect. Sometimes it stands on one leg, and frequently wades in the 

 water in quest of its food. 



The food of the Little Bittern, which is almost entirely obtained at night, 

 is composed of small fish, frogs, and other reptiles, worms, small shells, 

 and aquatic insects with their larvae. The note of this bird bears some 

 resemblance to that of the Common Bittern, but is not so loud or harsh. 

 Naumann says that it resembles the syllable pumm several times repeated, 

 then a long pause, and again uttered, and that the cry of the female sounds 

 like the word gate or get rapidly repeated. 



The nest of the Little Bittern is generally placed amongst the dense 

 vegetation of its marshy haunts. Sometimes it is built amongst reeds a 

 few inches above the water, and is often at a considerable distance from 

 the shore. It is even said to sometimes take possession of a deserted 



