on breeding of the Bittern in Norfolk.



57



slipped over the sides of the nest, but one bolder than the rest crept

into its fabric, evidently thinking that between the blades of holder-

rush its brilliantly coloured head would be concealed, and it was less

conspicuous than might have been expected. In six weeks these

young Coots would be white-breasted Coots. Further on, Mr. It.

Gurney punted us to a Great Crested Grebe’s nest, and again the

scarlet countenance of a very young Grebe was seen eyeing us from

between the blades of the bolder. About 1 p.m. the “boom” of a

Bittern was distinctly audible, and again at 1.20 the strange sound

swept over the water, not loud this time, hut rising in volume like

some distant fog-horn. Naumann expresses it on paper by the

syllables “ ii-prumb,” repeated slowly, which perhaps is as near to it

as any imitation can he. It seemed very similar to the “ booming ”

of the Little Bittern which I heard at Saham Mere in 1894.


July 8th . — Nesting of the Bittern .- — -After an arduous search in

a dense reed-bed, higher than a man’s head, a well-feathered young

Bittern was found by Miss E. L. Turner and J. Vincent, which it was

naturally concluded could not be the only one, as the Bittern lays

four eggs. It refused to take food when placed in its mouth, whence

Miss Turner judged that the young are fed by regurgitation, and the

only sound it uttered was “ a curious bubbling note.” As the young

of the Bittern are not hatched simultaneously it is possible that this

was the youngest bird of the clutch. The illustration of a young

Bittern taken at Ranworth long ago (Gurney and Fisher, ‘ Zool.,’ 1846,

p. 1321) will hardly hear comparison with Miss Turner’s beautiful

photographs. The discovery of the nest fell to the Rev. M. C. Bird

eleven days later. From Mr. Robert Gurney, who was w T ith him, j

learn that w T hen found it was full of Bittern’s feathers, with a few

fish-scales, probably those of rudd and roach. This nest, which I

had an opportunity of examining afterwards, viz. on August 1st,

was, according to my tape measurements, 18 x 15 in. at the water’s

edge, with a depth in the centre of about 4 - 7 in.; roughly speaking,

it was an ovate circle. It rested on no solid foundation, there being

about 18 in. of water below it, in which I felt about in the hope of

finding a rotten egg. The fabric is well shown in a photograph by

Miss Turner, who thought that its flatness was probably owing to

its having been trampled down by the nestlings. But even in this



