LETTERS 



SUPPOSED LITTLE BITTERN IN SHROPSHIRE. 



To the Editors of British Birds. 



Sirs, — For exactly a fortnight — ^May 14th to 27th, 1913 — 

 a, mysterious bird was heard calhng from the marshy border of Betton 

 Pool, near Shrewsbury. Cartwright, the keeper, an observant man, 

 Avho is familiar with the notes of all the ordinary water-fowl (which 

 resort to the pool in considerable variety) reported it to me as something 

 •entirely different from any bird-note he had ever heard. I went 

 down there several times, and on one occasion (23rd) was fortvmate 

 enough to hear the bird call repeatedly. This was between 9 and 10 

 p.m. The note sounded lilce " Cuc-cuc-cuc-cuc-gwrr " ; the last 

 syllable dra'wai out and guttiiral in tone. The number of "cues" 

 varied from three to five. The call was fairly loud, but the long final 

 note the loudest, so that at a distance this alone would be audible. 

 The bird seldom began till dark, but on two days it began about 8 p.m. 

 It often kept calling intermittently all night long. On the 25th, 

 ■Cartwright and I went with the punt and searched carefully the marshy 

 ■covert where it seemed to stay ; first silently and then trying various 

 ■stratagems to alarm it and make it take wing. All in vain, however, 

 and the bird finally disappeared without anyone having had even a 

 glimpse of it. The last time it was heard was on the night of May 27th. 

 I have searched all my available ornithological works, and can find 

 ■only one species that at all answers to the description- — the Little 

 Bittern (Ardetta minuta). I should be glad of suggestions from other 

 •ornithologists, especially any who may have had actual acquaintance 

 with the Little Bittern in other countries. I may add that the species 

 is known to have occurred six times in Shropshire. 



H. E. Forrest. 

 Shrewsbttry, June Srd, 1913. 



[The note of the Little Bittern seems to me to bear a very close 

 resemblance to the noise made by a man driving a pile with a wooden 

 mallet. Generally about three blows seem to be given at short intervals, 

 and then a pause takes place before the noise is renewed. — F.C.R. J.] 



