COMMON BITTEKN 33 



COMMON BITTERN. Botaurus stellaris (Linngeus). 



Coloured Figures, Gould, ' Birds of Great Britain,' vol. iv, pi. 

 27; Dresser, 'Birds of Europe,' vol. vi, pi. 403; Lilford, 

 ' Coloured Figures,' vol. vii, pi. 13. 



This remarkable-looking bird, easily recognised by its 

 beautiful rich buff plumage, profusely barred and vermicu- 

 lated with black, and also by the development of its neck- 

 feathers, which form an erectile frill like that of the Kuff, 

 once bred and was common in many districts of the British 

 Isles. Its loud bellowing note was familiar to persons 

 residing in the vicinity of the Norfolk Broads, the Cam- 

 bridge and Lincolnshire Fens and other suitable districts 

 in England and Wales, also over the low-lying marshy 

 districts of which so large an area of Ireland is composed. 

 But drainage and tillage have now restricted its breeding- 

 haunts to such a degree that its nest is nowhere to be found, 

 and it is a matter for much regret that many of the adult 

 birds which reach us during the winter and might 

 possibly remain to breed, are, in a large measure, shot 

 even in the close season in spring. At present, the 

 majority of Bitterns arrive annually in England and prob- 

 ably so in Ireland 1 as winter visitors, but in Scotland their 

 appearance is much more irregular. Stragglers have reached 

 the Outer Hebrides (a specimen having been taken on the 

 coast of Harris, in January, 1890) ; while the Shetlands, 

 and probably the Orkneys have also been visited (Saunders). 

 The Bittern occurs most frequently in December and 

 January, and with reference to this fact Mr. Ussher remarks 

 that " it is singular that a species whose breeding-range is 

 eastern and southern rather than northern should not 

 appear usually in October, but chiefly in mid-winter, when 

 we might expect the autumn migration to have ceased." 

 In Ireland it has been recorded most frequently from the 

 co. Cork. As an instance of a bird taken recently and 

 early in the autumn, I may mention one which was shot on 

 August 9th, 1900, on the sea-shore of the co. Down (E. 

 Patterson, ' Irish Naturalist,' 1900). 



In its general habits and in the localities which it fre- 

 quents the Common Bittern resembles its smaller relative ; 



1 Mr. Ussher, however, states that the only place he can name where 

 the Bittern seems to occur on an average once a year in Ireland, is in the 

 marshes of 'Lord Castletown's property in Queen's County. 



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