COMMON BITTERN. 279 



In addition to these Aberdeenshire specimens, I am enabled, 

 through the kindness of the Earl of Haddington, to record the 

 occurrence of a very perfect male bird, at LufFness, in East 

 Lothian, on 23d June, 1867. This specimen, which was exhibited 

 at a meeting of the Natural History Society of Glasgow shortly 

 afterwards, is now in the Mellerstain Collection. 



Dr Edmonston has noticed the species in Shetland, and it 

 is also mentioned by Messrs Baikie and Heddle, in the Orkney 

 Fauna one having been shot by Mr Strang, on Sanday, in' 

 1806. 



THE COMMON BITTERN. 



EOT A URUS STELLARIS. 



Ghraineig. 



Is not a common species anywhere, though I have seen examples 

 from almost every county. The Bittern has, once or twice 

 of late years, been killed at Fossil Marsh, and also at Hogganfield, 

 both places being within a few miles of Glasgow. It has likewise 

 been shot in Arran, Islay, and Mull, but not, so far as I am aware, 

 on any of the other inner islands, except Skye, on which island one 

 was shot in May, 1867. On the Outer Hebrides it appears to be a 

 rare bird ; one was shot in North Uist a few years ago, but I am 

 not able to quote any other authentic instance of the occurrence 

 of the Bittern in the Long island. 



In the east of Scotland the distribution of the Bittern extends 

 from Berwick to Caithness the number of specimens obtained 

 being about equal to that met with in the west. 



It is many years since this bird bred in any part of Scotland. 

 In the old statistical account of Galston, in Ayrshire, dated 1792, 

 the Rev. George Smith, then minister of the parish, recorded that 

 a pair of Bitterns had their nest on an island in Bruntwood Loch, 

 near Mauchline, in 1782, but as the birds made a loud roaring 

 noise, some superstitious people in the district banished them in 

 the belief that their uncommon cries foreboded no good. The 

 chance of banishing rare birds like the Bittern, however, does not 

 now fall to the lot of timid people. The rapid progress made of 

 late years in the cultivation of districts once attractive to birds of 



