112 



AMERICAN BITTERN. 



FRECKLED HEROtf. MOKOHO BITTERN. DU^KADOO. 



Ardea minor, WILSON. 



" lenticjinosa, MONTAGU. LEACH. 



" mokoho, VIELLOT. 



" stellarin, var.. LATHAM. 



Botaurus freti hudsonis, BRISSON. 



Butor americana, SWAINSON. 



Ardea A Heron. Minor Lesser. 



THE native country of this species of Bittern is indicated 

 by its name. It is a native of the whole of North America, 

 and occurs in plenty in the Fur Countries, regions which 

 for true sporting are to be preferred to any others in the 

 world, even to the jungles of sultry India, or the vast and 

 rarely-trodden wilds of the distant interior of Southern Africa. 



Of these birds Mr. Yarrell speaks of one as having been 

 met with in the Isle of Man; one in Cornwall; one in 

 Hampshire, near Christchurch, in 1836; one in Devonshire, shot 

 at Mothecombe, near Plymouth, December 22nd., 1829; and 

 one, the specimen recorded by Montagu, shot by a Mr. 

 Cunningham, in the parish of Piddletown, or Puddletown, 

 near the River Froome, in the county of Dorset, in the 

 autumn of 1804. 



These birds are sold . in the markets of New Orleans as 

 an article of food, though of inferior estimation, to make 

 gombo soup, a composition of" the 'cuisinier' with which I 

 am not acquainted. When fat, however, they are said by 

 Wilson to be excellent eating. 



The flight is said to be rather rapid. 



It feeds on fish and frogs. 



