544 ARDEID.E. 



sent by Keith Abbott, Esq. from Trebizond, and the Rus- 

 sian naturalists, who went with the expedition to the Cau- 

 casian range of mountains, found the Bittern inhabiting the 

 countries between the Black and the Caspian Seas. It is 

 found in the north western part of India, at Bengal, and in 

 China. Colonel Sykes says it is rare in the Dukhun ; but 

 that the species is identical with the European bird ; and 

 M. Temminck includes our Bittern in his Catalogue of the 

 Birds of Japan. 



The beak is greenish yellow, the upper mandible varied 

 with dark horn colour towards the point ; the lore green ; 

 the irides yellow ; the top of the head black, tinged with 

 bronze green ; the occipital feathers varied with transverse 

 bars of black and pale buff; all the upper surface of the 

 body pale brownish buff, irregularly marked with black 

 and dark reddish brown ; the primary quill-feathers mottled 

 with greyish black and chestnut colour ; tail-feathers red- 

 dish brown, varied with black ; the cheeks buff; the sides 

 of the neck the same, but with narrow transverse lines of 

 dark brown ; chin pale buffy white ; from the angles of the 

 mouth, and down the neck in front, are large longitudinal 

 streaks of dark brown and reddish brown ; the feathers of 

 the breast blackish brown in the centre, with broad margins 

 of buff; under surface of the body buff, with narrow streaks 

 of dark brown ; legs and feet grass green ; claws pale horn 

 colour, the middle claw pectinated. 



Whole length of an adult bird from twenty-eight to 

 thirty inches. From the carpal joint to the end of the 

 wing, fourteen inches ; the first four quill-feathers nearly 

 equal in length, and the longest in the wing. 



Neither the females nor the young of the year differ 

 essentially from the males in their plumage. 



