THE COMMON BITTERN 173 



THE NIGHT HERON 



NYCTfCORAX GRISEUS: 



Head, back, and scapulars, black, with blue and green reflections ; on the 

 back of the head three very long narrow white feathers ; lower part of 

 the back, wings, and tail, pearl-grey ; forehead, streak over the eyes, and 

 all the lower parts, white ; beak black, yellow at the base ; irides red ; 

 feet yellowish green. Young birds have no crest ; the upper plumage 

 is dull brown streaked with yellow ; wing-coverts and primaries marked 

 with fish-shaped streaks, which are yellowish ; under parts dull white, 

 mottled with brown and ash ; bill greenish ; irides and feet brown. 

 Length twenty-one inches. Eggs pale blue. 



The Night Heron is a bird of wide geographical range ; but, on 

 account of its nocturnal habits and the rarity of its occurrence 

 in this country, it has been little observed. It is, however, not 

 uncommon on migration. A specimen was brought to me at 

 Helston, Cornwall, about the year 1836, which had been shot in 

 the dusk of the evening, on Goonhilly Downs. Its long and delicate 

 crest had been stupidly tied into a knot, and by the bruised con- 

 dition of these feathers the specimen, if it still exists in any museum, 

 may yet be identified. 



The Night Heron is said to be not uncommon on the shores of 

 the Baltic, in the wide marshes of Bretagne and Lorraine, and on 

 the banks of the Rhone. It passes the day concealed among the 

 thick foliage of trees and shrubs, and feeds only by night. It builds 

 its nest in trees, and lays four or five eggs. 



THE COMMON BITTERN 



BOTAURUS STELLARIS 



Moustaches and crown black ; upper plumage yellowish rust-red, spotted 

 with dusky ; the feathers of the neck elongated, marked with brown zigzag 

 lines ; primaries barred with rust-red and dusky grey ; plumage beneath 

 paler, marked with oblong dusky streaks ; upper mandible brown, edged 

 with yellow ; lower, orbits, and feet, greenish yellow ; irides bright 

 yellow. Length two feet four inches. Eggs dingy green. 



Macgillivray, who was as well acquainted as most ornithologists 

 with birds haunting moors and swamps, admits that he never 

 heard one, and thinks that a brother naturalist, who describes what, 

 no doubt, he heaid, mistook for the booming of the Bittern the 

 drumming of a Snipe. Lord Lilford tells us that a lady of his 

 acquaintance told him that as a young wife, living near marshes, 

 she often was kept awake by the booming of Bitterns. 



