THE ZooLocist—Aprit, 1875. 4403 
bones are kept in their places until they heal, even if they keep on 
the water all the time. 
Water Rail.—One shot near the Dene on the 13th: they are 
seldom met with here. 
Chimney Swallow.—On the 21st my sons saw two flying about 
over a pond, sometimes settling on the trees: previous to this the 
6th is the latest I have ever known them to stay. 
Bitiern.—On the 28th a beautiful bittern was brought to me, 
two hours after it was shot, without a stained feather, the wing 
only being broken. It was shot in the Wingate Woods, adjoining 
Castle Eden, and was seen and fired at the day before, when 
passing overhead—out of shot, it was said. I was very glad to 
commence operations on a bird like this, as it is not known to 
have occurred in this neighbourhood before. It proved to be a 
male, and probably a bird of the year, measuring only twenty-seven 
inches and a half in length, but its very perfect condition made 
up for its diminutive size. The gamekeeper who shot it told me 
that when he went towards it, the bird seemed to “ put its head 
down its throat.” This brought to my mind Selby’s remarks on the 
position of the head and neck of the bittern, and in mounting it 
I have followed his example, as in skinning it and examining the 
structure of the neck I had little doubt as to the correctness of his 
observations. The four joints nearest the head are stiffish, and 
have little or no back action; the next six are very free, working 
like links in a loose chain; the tenth and remainder are like the 
first four, so that by putting the head back towards the shoulders 
the fourth joint rests comfortably on the tenth, the six loose joints 
between hanging like a loop: by putting the head and neck into 
this position [ found that the gullet passed backwards (on the right 
side, as usual) at the fourth joint and came again to the front at 
the tenth. It seems to me that by this arrangement the gullet, 
when distended with food just swallowed, will have much more 
freedom and less pressure put upon it, by being shortened, as it 
were, and the food carried above the neck in the loop. Selby and 
Yarrell’s description of the habits of this bird when at rest are so 
much alike that they seem to have been written by the same pen; 
with this one exception, however,—Yarrell says, “It remains with 
head erect in thick beds of reeds,” &c. Selby says, “with the 
neck bent, so that the head rests between the shoulders,” and in 
his description of the plate adds, “or when seeking its prey 
