AMERICAN BITTERN. LITTLE BITTERN. 137 



Robinson to this effect : " That the bird was very fat and 

 very good eating, for we roasted it." The skin was, how- 

 ever, presented to the Belfast Museum by the same gentle- 

 man.* 



Occurring in North America in considerable numbers, this 

 bird occupies the place of the common species in the Euro- 

 pean Continent. Similar in its habits, its describers have 

 differed in their opinions respecting the booming noise which 

 is so remarkable in our own, some ornithologists denying it 

 the power, which others have as strenuously insisted on. 



Habitat North America. 



SPECIES 128 THE LITTLE BITTERN. 



Botaurus minutus. Linn. 

 Heron blongios. Teimn. 



HAVING been obtained more often than any of the rarer 

 herons we have described, this elegant little species is a per- 

 fect miniature of the others, but still uniting all the beauty of 

 plumage and form so much distinguishing the birds of its 

 family. 



Occurring in six or seven instances over various parts of 

 the island, one or two specimens were obtained in the vicinity 

 of Sandymount marsh, near Dublin, and another as far west 

 as Galway. 



Exchanging in captivity many of the habits which add 

 grace to it in its wild state, we see it in confinement skulk- 

 ing or walking lazily about, with the neck so much retracted 

 that the head appears rising from the shoulders without the 

 slightest semblance of a neck ; occasionally also, in its wild 

 state, indulging in a variety of attitudes, one of which is 

 exceedingly curious : perching on a bough, the head, feet, 

 and body forming almost a perpendicular line, it re- 

 mains immovable for a considerable time in the same posi- 

 tion.f We have also the authority of Audobon, who, having 

 specimens in confinement, remarks that they were fed upon 

 small shell-fish and strips of pork, and constantly exhibited 

 their scansorial powers in attempting to escape from the win- 

 dows, as they would climb with ease from the floor to the top 

 of the curtains by means of their feet and claws. 



Habitat Northern Africa. 



* Thompson. t Ornithologie Europeenne. 



