10 



BRITISH BIRDS. 



[vol. xni. 



reeds. Ihey also resort to the many little lagoons hidden 

 amongst the reed-beds. In calm weather the feeding-ground 

 is usually some distance from the nest. During gales 

 and rough weather Bitterns are seldom in evidence and 



Fig. 2. NESTLING BITTERN ABOUT TWO DAYS OLD. THE 

 ELDEST OF THREE HATCHED OUT. 



{Photographed by Emma L. Turner.) 



probably they then resort to some place nearer home. One 

 week in June, during which the water rose five or six inches, 

 one of the Bitterns I had under observation regularly visited 

 a shallow marsh more than a mile away from her nest. This 



