534 ARDEIILE. 



articulated with the interior toe, and on the same plane: claws long, that of the 

 middle toe pectinated. Wing long, rather rounded, the first three quill-feathers 

 the longest, and those nearly equal. 



THE LITTLE BITTERN is the smallest British example of 

 the family to which it belongs, and will be perceived to 

 differ from the true Herons in having little or no bare 

 space above the tarsal joint, and that its toes are also much 

 longer. M. Temminck does not admit the generic distinc- 

 tion of the Bitterns proper, but separates them from the 

 Herons as a section. Pennant, who plainly saw that the 

 Little Bittern possessed some of the characters of both 

 Herons and Bitterns, called this bird the Little Bittern 

 Heron. Some authors have originated a genus for the 

 reception of the birds intermediate in character between the 

 true Herons and the true Bitterns ; I have, however, with 

 Mr. Selby and Mr. Gould, included our bird among the 

 true Bitterns. 



The Little Bittern is a native of the southern parts of 

 Europe, the south-western parts of Asia, and probably of a 

 large portion of Africa, being found in Barbary, where Dr. 

 Shawe says it is called Boo-onk (long-neck) ; it is found at 

 Madeira, and as far south as the Cape of Good Hope, from 

 whence specimens were brought by Dr. Andrew Smith. 



In this country, the Little Bittern may be considered 

 rather as a summer visiter, most of the recorded examples 

 having been obtained between spring and autumn. The 

 Rev. Richard Lubbock, however, sent me word that the 

 specimen mentioned by Mr. Paget, in his sketch of the Na- 

 tural History of Yarmouth, page 7, as in the collection of 

 Mrs. J. Baker, is in immature plumage ; was caught by a 

 water-dog at Hickling, near Ludlam, during the extreme 

 frost of 1822-3, and was given by himself to Mrs. Baker's 

 brother, the late Mr. Girdlestone. 



