LITTLE BITTERN COMMON BITTERN. 79 



Habits. Very largely nocturnal, spending the day in some 

 retired place. It flies with measured flappings of its rounded 

 wings. 



Food. Fish, frogs, snails, and water insects. 



Nidification. Breeds in Europe, Asia, and Africa. 



LITTLE BITTERN (Ardetta minuta). 



Not infrequently met with in spring and autumn, usually in 

 the southern and eastern districts. It has bred in Norfolk. 



Haunts. Marshes and swamps. 



Plumage. Crown, nape, and back black, glossed with green. 

 Primaries and tail brownish black. Small wing-coverts, neck, 

 throat, plumes, and under parts vinous buff. Bill yellow. 

 Legs greenish yellow. Length 13 in. Female : rather smaller, 

 and has a browner appearance above, and under parts well 

 streaked with umber-brown. 



Language. The male utters a kind of boom, less pro- 

 nounced than the Common Bittern. The female utters a 

 sharp " gett-gett." 



Habits. By day it is a great skulker amongst thick, tangled 

 reed-beds, through which it can run with extraordinary rapidity. 

 It has a curious habit, when seeking concealment, of drawing 

 itself up and pointing its beak upwards, when it harmonizes 

 with its surroundings, and often escapes observation. Except 

 when migrating, it seldom resorts to flight. 



Food. Fish, frogs, reptiles, and water insects. 



Nidification. Breeds in Europe and Asia. 



COMMON BITTERN (Botaurus stellarus). 



Or, more properly, Bittern, since it is now extinct as a 

 breeding species, though it annually visits this country and 

 might, possibly, again breed if it were allowed. 



Haunts. Marshes, swamps, and fen-districts. 



Plumage. Crown and nape black, otherwise generally buff, 

 barred above and streaked below with black. Feathers of neck 

 long, erectile, and forming a ruff. Bill greenish yellow. Legs 

 green. Length 30 in. Female similar. 



Language. A curious booming, somewhat like the bellowing 

 of a bull. It also has a harsh scream. 



Habits. Very nocturnal, spending the daytime in dense 

 reed-beds, with which the colouring of the plumage harmonizes. 

 On the wing it is rather like the Heron. Very shy and solitary. 

 It seeks its food by night. 



Food. Fish, frogs, small mammals, birds, &c. ; little comes 

 amiss. 



