48 BRITISH BIRDS. 



each angle: irides yellow. The crown of the head 

 is somewhat depressed, and covered with long 

 black feathers ; throat yellowish white, sides of the 

 neck pale rusty, variegated with black, in spotted, 

 waved, and narrow transverse lines, and on the 

 fore part the ground colour is whitish, and the 

 feathers fall down in less broken and darker length- 

 ened stripes. These neck feathers, which it can 

 raise and depress at pleasure, are long and loose, 

 and, inclining backward, cover the neck behind; 

 those below them, on the breast, to the thighs, are 

 streaked lengthwise with black, edged with yel- 

 lowish white: the thighs, belly, and vent, are dull 

 pale yellow, clouded with dingy brown. The 

 plumage on the back and wings is marked with 

 black zig-zag lines, bars, and streaks, upon a 

 ground shaded with rufous and yellow. The bas- 

 tard wings, greater coverts, and quills, are brown, 

 barred with black. The tail, which consists of ten 

 feathers, is very short: the legs are pale green, 

 bare a little above the knees; the claws, particu- 

 larly those on the hind toes, are long and sharp, 

 the middle ones serrated. 



The female is less than the male; her plumage 

 is darker, and the feathers on the head, breast, and 

 neck, are shorter, and the colours not so distinctly 

 marked. She makes an artless nest, composed 

 chiefly of the withered stalks and leaves of the high 

 coarse herbage, in the midst of which it is placed, 

 and lays from four to six eggs of a greenish white. 



The Bittern is a shy solitary bird; it is never 

 seen on the wing in the day-time; but sits, com- 

 monly with the head erect, hid among the reeds 

 and rushes in the marshes, where it takes up its 



