542 ARDEID^E. 



shooting over a fen in Ireland, says, " Out of seventy head, 

 we reckoned one Woodcock, and a brace of old Grouse 

 that we found among the heathy banks bordering the fen. 

 We shot six couple of Teal ; and, with one exception, the 

 remainder of the count were Snipes, of which at least a 

 fourth were jacks. In the most impassable section of the 

 morass, old York pointed with more than customary steadi- 

 ness ; and, it might be fancy, actually looked round with 

 peculiar expression, as if he would intimate that no com- 

 mon customer was before him. I got within twenty yards, 

 and encouraged the old setter to go in ; but he turned his 

 grizzled and intelligent eyes to mine, and wagged his tail 

 as if he would have said, ' Lord ! you don't know what I 

 have here.'' A tuft of earth flung by one of the aides-de- 

 camp obliged the skulker to get up, and to our general 

 surprise, a fine Bittern rose. I knocked him over ; but 

 though he came down with a broken wing and wounded 

 leg, he kept the old dog at bay until my companion floun- 

 dered through the swamp and secured him. On this ex- 

 ploit I plumed myself, for Bitterns are here extremely 

 scarce, and in Ballycroy they are seldom heard or found." 



The Bittern was formerly in some estimation as an 

 article of food for the table : the flesh is said to resemble 

 that of the leveret in colour and taste, with some of the 

 flavour of wild fowl. Sir Thomas Browne says that young 

 Bitterns were considered a better dish than young Herons. 



Mr. Selby says the nest is composed of sticks, reeds, &c. 

 and is generally placed on the ground near the water's 

 edge, among the thickest herbage ; the eggs are four or five 

 in number, of a uniform pale brown colour. The young 

 are produced in about twenty-five days ; they are fed by 

 the parents until fully fledged, and do not quit the nest till 

 they are nearly able to provide for themselves. The eggs 





