30 GRALLATORES. BOTAURUS.  Birrern. 
COMMON BITTERN. 
Boravrus steLLAris, Steph. 
PLATE VIII. 
Botaurus stellaris, S/eph. Shaw’s Zool. v. 11. 593. Pl. 45. 
Botaurus, Briss. Orn. 5, 444. 24. Pl. 37. f. 1. 
Ardea stellaris, Linn. Syst. 1. 239. 21.—Lath. Ind. Orn. 2. 680. 18, but not 
var. B.—Raii Syn. 100. A. 11.— Will. 207. 1. 50. 52.—Flem. Br. Anim. 
1. 95. 127.—Wagler, Syst. Or. 1. sp. 8. 
Le Butor, Buff: Ois. 7. 411. 21. 
Heron Grand Butor, Temm. Man. 2. 580. 
Grosse Rhordrommel, Beehst. Naturg. Deut. 4. 63. 
Bittern, Br. Zool. 2. No. 174.— Will. (Angl.) p. 282.—Lath. Syn. 5. 56. 17. 
—Id. Sup. 234.—Mont. Ornith. Dict. and Sup.—Bewick’s Br. Birds, 2. 
47.—Shaw’s Zool. 11. 593. Pl. 45, &e. 
ProvinciaL—Miredrum, Bull of the Bog, Butter-bump, Bumpy- 
Cop, Bog-jumper, Bog-bluiter, Bittour. 
Tux Bittern has lately become, in most parts of Britain, 
a bird of comparatively rare occurrence, and is now, asa per- 
manent resident, principally confined to the fens and marshy 
districts of some of the eastern counties. This desertion has, 
without doubt, been greatly caused by the system of drain- 
ing now so prevalent throughout the kingdom ; a natural 
consequence of the improvements in agriculture, and the en- 
closure of waste lands. Previous to such improvements, it 
appears to have been very generally, if not numerously, dis- 
persed, if we may judge from the various provincial names 
it has acquired, and was the well known and (by the super- 
stitious) dreaded inhabitant of all the marshes and extensive 
quagmires throughout the country. At the present day, the 
capture of a Bittern is, in many parts of England, a subject 
of great interest; and perhaps, with the exception of a few 
breeding in the marshes of Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, 
and Norfolk, the stragglers that are met with in other parts 
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