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gular longitudinal streaks of dark brown ; abdomen, inner sides of the tibia, and under tail-coverts 

 yellowisli buff without any markings; outer sides of the tibia tawny variegated with brown; lining of 

 wings and axillary plumes pale buff, barred and mottled with purplish brown. Irides yellow; bill dark 

 brown, whitish on the sides and towards the base of lower mandible; eyelids, naked loral membrane, 

 legs, and feet beautiful pale green; the claws dark brown, with horn-coloured tips. Total length 

 30 inches : extent of wings 48; wing, from flexure, 14*5 ; tail 5 ; bill, along the ridge 2*75, along the 

 edge of lower mandible 4; bare tibia 1 ; tarsus 4; middle toe and claw 5*25; hind toe and claw 3*75. 



Female. I think Mr. Gould is in error in the statement (Handbook of the Birds of Australia, p. 314), '^the 

 sexes are alike in plumage, but the female is smaller than the male.^' So far as my observation goes, 

 the female is invariably larger than the male, and is further distinguishable by its much duller 



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plumage, 



Obs, Individuals differ not only in size but in the details of their colouring — so much so, indeed, that the 

 natives believe in the existence of two species, the smaller and darker of which they distinguish as 

 '^ Matuku-karourou;^^ but having now before me a series of thirteen specimens exhibiting a consider- 

 able amount of individual variation, I am unable to recognize any such distinction. 



Remarks. This bird has the faculty of expanding the plumage of the neck laterally ; and the hind part of the 



■ 



neck, which is exposed by this action, is covered with a long fluffy or downy growth. When the body 

 is quiescent the long side-feathers overlie this downy plumage, and effectually conceal it. The claw of 

 the middle toe is strongly pectinate on its inner margin, and in old birds the edges are often much worn 

 and broken. 



The Common Bittern is very generally distributed over the country, in places suited to its habits 

 of life, such as raupo swamps, sedgy lagoons, and those " blind creeks," covered over with a 

 growth of reeds and tangle, which are so numerous in all the low districts. In some localities it 

 is comparatively abundant — for example, along the whole extent of swampy flats lying between 

 Waikanae and Eangitikei, on the west coast of the Wellington Province, where I have obtained 

 half a dozen in the course of a single afternoon. It is likewise met with in all parts of the 

 Australian continent, although very few specimens appear to have been sent to Europe ; and 

 (yaptain Sturt reports that he found it very plentiful in the marshes of the interior. It is said to 

 occur also in the Chatham Islands; and there is reason to believe that its range extends to 

 Polynesia. 



It is a true Bittern in all its habits, being, in fact, the southern representative of the Botaurus 

 stellaris of Europe. It appears to love a solitary life, being always met with singly; it remains 

 concealed during the heat of the day, and at eventide startles the ear Math its four loud booming 

 notes, slowly repeated, and resembling the distant roar of an angry bull. It subsists on mice, 

 lizards, eels, and freshwater fish, of various kinds ; from the gullet of one that I had shot I extracted 

 two headless eels, each measuring 16 inches in length, from which some idea may be formed of 

 the capacity of a Bittern's stomach ! 



It is interesting to steal up, under cover, and watch this Bittern alternately feeding and 

 reposing in its sedgy haunts. When in a quiescent posture the body is nearly erect, the head 

 thrown back and resting on the shoulders, with the beak pointed upwards, and the contracted 

 neck forming a broad curve with the closed ruff depending, the attitude altogether being rather 



2i2 



