20 BITTERNS A COINCIDENCE 



attempted to swallow a jack six inches long, which had 

 stuck in its gullet. They pulled out the fish ; but it 

 was too late to save the bird, which expired at their 

 feet from exhaustion. 



That, in itself, was an incident worthy of note, inas- 

 much as the bittern is now one of the rarest of birds in 

 our well-drained land ; but the coincidence is to follow. 

 Leaving London a few hours after parting with my 

 friend, I landed at my own door the following morning 

 at 6 A.M., and while awaiting breakfast took up the 

 fresh numbers of the Scottish Naturalist (Nos. 121 and 

 122). Judge of my surprise when, on opening that 

 scrupulously scientific periodical, I found on page 22 

 the Herts story neatly capped by one from Perthshire. 

 Mr. T. M'Naughton, walking along the course of a 

 small burn near Braco in Perthshire, chanced upon a 

 bittern suffering from precisely the same kind of mis- 

 adventure as proved fatal to the bird on the Bean. In 

 this case 'a good half-pound trout' was the cause of 

 the trouble. Mr. M'Naughton extracted the fish, took 

 the bird home, nursed it back to vigour, and presented 

 it to the Edinburgh Zoo, where, at the present time 

 of writing, it is thriving in an aviary in company with 

 American bitterns and night herons. 



The occurrence of a bittern in any part of Great 

 Britain has come to be noteworthy, for the species had 

 approached very near extinction as a resident in our 

 islands (the last instance of a nest having been recorded 

 in 1868), until the establishment of a nature reserve in 

 Norfolk provided a sanctuary for it. There, I am told, 

 this fine bird may now be heard uttering its extra- 



