ARDEID^l. 359 



advance of the carpal joint of the wing when the 

 wing is closed, a few of the feathers have dark 

 centres, with buff-coloured margins; breast, belly, 

 thighs and under tail- coverts buff, with a small 

 patch of white about the vent ; under wing-coverts 

 and axillary plume pale buff; the legs, toes and 

 claws greenish yellow. 



The egg is said to be of a uniform dull white. 



COMMON BITTERN, Botaurus'stellaris. This spe- 

 cies is much more common, not only in this county, 

 but generally throughout England, than the Little 

 Bittern ; but it is not now so much so as it was for- 

 merly, partly perhaps on account of the gun being so 

 much more in use, and partly on account of the 

 spread of cultivation and drainage, and the conse- 

 quent destruction of many of its favourite boggy 

 resorts. The last that has come under my notice is 

 in the possession of Mr. Bidgood, the Curator of the 

 Museum at Taunton : it was killed in the Marsh, 

 in December, 18G7, and other specimens have oc- 

 curred from time to time in various other parts of 

 the county. 



The Bittern is resident in England throughout 

 the year, and breeds here ; but its nest not being 

 often found, the following note from the ' Zoologist' 

 for 1868 may be interesting: A nest was found 

 near one of the Broads in Norfolk, on the 80th of 

 March, with two eggs in it : the nest was composed 

 of reeds and sticks, as seems to be usually the case. 



