134 ARDEAM. 



Ireland. Very beautiful in plumage, which is of a spotless 

 white colour, with two long pendant feathers falling grace- 

 fully from the head, we must regret its less frequent occur- 

 rence in our island. 



Habitat Southern Europe. 



SPECIES 125 THE SQUACCO HERON. 

 Ardea comata. Linn. 

 Heron crdbier. Temm. 



THE SQUACCO HERON is of equal rarity as the purple heron, 

 and, like that species, has also occurred in one instance, in the 

 vicinity of Youghal, during the summer of 1849, and which 

 we had the pleasure of examining through the kindness of 

 Mr. Samuel Moss, of Youghal. For the same reasons as the 

 preceding, the habits of this species are but little known, from 

 its rarity, and the difficulty of observing it in its native 

 country. 



Habitat Northern Africa. 



GENUS LXV. BOTAURUS (BITTERN). 



SPECIES 126 THE COMMON BITTERN. 



Botaurus stellaris. Selby. 

 Heron grand butor. Temm. 



Bog Drum. 



THE COMMON BITTERN, a species yielding to none of the 

 birds we have already described, either in beauty of plumage 

 or interest in its history, is now rarely or seldom observed in 

 our island, where at one time it existed inconsiderable numbers. 

 Its disappearance may be easily accounted for in the drainage 

 and improvement of the many morasses and bogs which had 

 previously furnished it with shelter and a home. 



Differing in the appearance of its plumage from the gray 

 and white shades peculiar to the herons, we see in this species 

 that beautiful blending of several dark colours the charac- 

 teristic of the bitterns. Also, unlike the heron in its habits, 

 the bittern is a skulking, close-lying species, of shy and re- 

 tired habits during the day, and only regaining its activity 

 on the approach of twilight. 



Invested with the privileges of the heron, in the olden time 

 the bittern ranked as another of the birds of the " great 

 flight." As the meaning may be somewhat ambiguous, we 



