1 36 ARDE AD.E. 



at the present time it is a matter of the greatest doubt 

 whether the bittern ever nidifys in our island. 



We may scarcely wonder at the fear instilled by this spe- 

 cies into the minds of the uneducated, when we see in it the 

 bird of an offended Deity, selected to typify more perfectly 

 the desolation He has caused to fall upon those mighty cities 

 which had rebelled against His will. Thus 



" When at evening, o'er the swampy plain, 

 The bittern's boom comes far : 

 Distinct, in darkness seen, 

 Above the horizon's lingering light, 

 Rose the near ruins of old Babylon." 



Remarked, during the breeding season, for its peculiar 

 spiral ascending flight in the air, it is to this it is indebted 

 for the beautiful poetic name bestowed upon it by the Latins, 

 " Heron of the Stars," or " Starmounter," an idea quaint in 

 its beauty, as is the German " Earthspurner" for the sky- 

 lark. With Aristotle, however, it was different, as he re- 

 marked that those birds were such lazy sluggards as to have 

 been at one time slaves, and afterwards metamorphosed into 

 bitterns. 



When wounded the bittern presents no ordinary antago- 

 nist, and woe to the unhappy dog sent to retrieve the wounded 

 quarry. 



Even the sportsman momentarily recoils when he perceives 

 the keen, undaunted look and sharp claws of the wounded 

 bittern, its yellow eye glistening with anger, and watching 

 for a stroke to deprive its enemy of sight. 



Habitat Northern Europe. 



SPECIES 127 THE AMERICAN BITTERN. 



Botaurus lentiginosus. Mont. 

 Heron lentigineux. Temm. 



WITH this bittern we have another instance in which we find 

 an occasional wanderer from the great American continent, 

 appearing upon our coasts in a similar manner with the 

 American cuckoo and belted kingfisher. Only appearing on 

 our shores on one occasion, it frequented some sedge-bot- 

 toms in the vicinity of Armagh, where it was observed by 

 the son of the distinguished astronomer, Dr. T. Romney Ro- 

 binson, who succeeded in obtaining it, and at once remarked 

 it as not possessing the usual wariness so characteristic of the 

 common bittern. 



Of its fitness for the table we have the testimony of Dr. 



