356 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



coverts tinged with buff; but the plumage of the 

 back and the ends of the tertials are reddish brown, 

 and the younger the specimen the darker the feathers 

 along the middle of the back." 



Yarrell, quoting Thienemann, says the eggs are of 

 a pale greenish grey. 



LITTLE BITTERN, Botaurus minutus. Several spe- 

 cimens of this rare little bird have been killed in 

 various parts of the county: there is one in the 

 Museum at Taunton, which was caught in a Snipe- 

 net near Langport, in October, 1862 ; Mr. Haddon, 

 of Taunton, has one in his collection, which was 

 shot by him near that town, on the banks of the 

 river Tone, in Priory Fields ; the Rev. Murray 

 A. Mathew records the occurrence of one at Weston- 

 super-Mare, in October, 1865;* and one is men- 

 tioned by Montagu as having been shot on the banks 

 of the Avon, near Bath, in the autumn of 1789. 



The Little Bittern appears to be rather a spring 

 and autumn visitor than a resident : captures, how- 

 ever, are recorded at various times, especially during 

 the summer, and only one in the winter, and that is 

 recorded in the ' Zoologist' for this year (1868). It 

 no doubt occasionally breeds in England, as captures 

 are recorded in the summer months, and Yarrell 

 describes a young bird, with the down still on it, 

 which was obtained on the banks of the Lea river, 



See ' Zoologist' for that year (pp. 9454 and 9457). 



