Eiuus. 331 



the young ones wero ineaiiable of eating, till the old ones at last 

 quitted their nest; and gave up their brood, whose appetites 

 they found it impossible to satisfy. 



The heron is said to be a very long-lived bird ; by Mr Kej-s. 

 ler's account, it may exceed sixty years ; and by a recent in- 

 stance of one that was taken in Holland, by a hawk belonging 

 to the Stadholder, its longevity is again confirmed, the bird 

 having a silver plate fastened to one leg, with an inscription, 

 importing that it had been struck by the elector of Cologne's 

 hawks thirty-iive years before. 



CHAP. VI. 



OK THE BITTERN, OU MIItE-lHU'M.* 



Those who have walked in an evening by the sedgy sides ot 

 unfrequented rivers, must remember a variety of notes from dif- 

 ferent water-fowl : the loud scream of the wild-goose, the croak- 

 ing of the mallard, the whining of the lapwing, and the tremu- 

 lous neighing of the jack-snipe. But of all those sounds, there 

 is none so dismally hollow as the booming of the bittern. It is 

 impossible for words to give those who have not heard this even- 

 ing-call an adequate idea of its solemnity. It is like the inter- 

 rupted bellowing of a l)ull, but hoUower, and louder, and is 

 heard at a mile's distance, as if issuing from some formidable 

 being that resided at the bottom of the waters. 



The bird, however, that produces this terrifying sound, is not 

 so big as a heron, with a weaker bill, not above four inches long. 

 It differs from the lieron chiefly in its colour, which is in general 

 of a paleish yellow, spotted and barred with black. Its wind- 

 pipe is fitted to produce the sound for which it is remaikahlc ; 

 the lower part of it dividing into the lungs, is supplied with a 

 ihin loose membrane, that can be filled with a large body of air, 

 and exiiloded at pleasure. These bellowing exjjlosions are 



* Bittonig are to bo fouiul ii\ all <-oiiMtiios wlioro tlicrn ure marslins. Tin- 

 Little />i/t'irn i« tint, iiiiich liifTKcr than the (lirosllo, and is rare in <iroal 

 Hritaiii. Tlio Yrllow Itilli'in is an inlml'itaiit of J?ra/,il, and in about two 

 feet, tlircc iuches in lpn(;th. 



