THE BITTERN. 34*9 



though its boomings are always performed in solitude, it has a 

 scream which is generally heard upon the seizing its prey, and 

 which is sometimes extorted by fear. 



This bird, though of the heron kind, is yet neither so destruc- 

 tive nor so voracious. It is a retired timorous animal, conceal- 

 ing itself in the midst of reeds and marshy places, and living upon 

 frogs, insects, and vegetables ; and though so nearly resembling 

 the heron in figure, yet differing much in manners and appe- 

 tites. As the heron builds on the tops of the highest trees, 

 the bittern lays its nest in a sedgy margin, or amidst a tuft of 

 rushes. The heron builds with sticks and wool; the bittern 

 composes its simpler habitation of sedges, the leaves of water- 

 plants, and dry rushes. The heron lays four eggs ; the bittern 

 generally seven or eight, of an ash-green colour. The heron 

 feeds its young for many days ; the bittern in three days leads 

 its little ones to their food. In short, the heron is lean and ca- 

 daverous, subsisting chiefly upon animal food ; the bittern is 

 plump and fleshy, as it feeds upon vegetables, when more nourish- 

 ing food is wanting. 



It cannot be, therefore, from its voracious appetites, but its' 

 hollow boom, that the bittern is held in such detestation by the 

 vulgar. " I remember, in the place where I was a boy, with what 

 terror this bird's note affected the whole village ; they considered 

 it as the presage of some sad event, and generally found or made 

 one to succeed it. I do not speak ludicrously ; but if any person 

 in the neighbourhood died, they supposed it could not be other- 

 wise, for the night-raven had foretold it ; but if no body hap- 

 pened to die, the death of a cow or a sheep gave completion to 

 the prophecy." 



Whatever terror it may inspire among the simple, its flesh is 

 greatly esteemed among the luxurious. For this reason it is as 

 eagerly sought after by the fowler as it is shunned by the pea- 

 sant ; and as it is a heavy rising, slow winged bird, it does not 

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