COMMON BITTERN. 541 



caught by a farmer's boy. The authors of the catalogue 

 of Norfolk and Suffolk Birds, published in the fifteenth 

 volume of the Transactions of the Linnean Society, men- 

 tion, that they had once obtained an egg of this bird in the 

 marshes of Norfolk. 



Mr. Lubbock, in his Fauna of Norfolk, mentions several 

 instances of the young of the Bittern taken in Norfolk ; 

 and Mr. W. R. Fisher has given me a drawing of one taken 

 at Ranworth, by Mr. D. B. Preston, with an addled egg. 



The Bittern constantly feeding at night, is therefore 

 seldom seen on wing in the day, but remains, with head 

 erect, in thick beds of reeds, or conceals itself among flags, 

 rushes, or other rank aquatic vegetation, which afford it a 

 solitary and secure retreat ; from such situations it is with 

 difficulty made to take flight, and when at length obliged 

 to get on wing, the pace is dull and flagging, and seldom 

 sustained to any great distance. M. Vieillot says, that in 

 France it is occasionally found in woods. In the spring, 

 and during the breeding-season, the Bittern makes a loud 

 booming or bellowing noise, whence, probably, the generic 

 term Botaurus was selected for it ; but when roused at 

 other times, the bird makes a sharp, harsh cry on rising, 

 not unlike that of a Wild Goose. Specimens are not un- 

 frequently shot from some of the numerous beds of reeds 

 growing by the sides of the Thames on the shores of Kent 

 and Essex. When on the ground wounded, the Bittern 

 will strike at dog or man ; and some care is necessary when 

 about to handle one, to avoid a hard blow from the point 

 of its sharp beak. If a dog advances upon one that is not 

 entirely disabled, the bird throws itself on its back, like a 

 Hawk, and fights with its claws as well as with its beak. 

 Mr. Maxwell, in his Wild Sports of the West of Ireland, 

 describing the sport enjoyed by a friend and himself while 



