THE BITTERN. 161 



were preserved but one, that in pursuance of the custom of the olden 

 time was served up at table.* Three of these were killed within five 

 miles of Belfast ; — at Holywood Moss, Dundonald (Nov. 5, 1824), and 

 Conswater Point, — the last locality near the town. Another was pro- 

 cured at Killileagh (Nov. 1826), and one or two were at Killinchy. In 

 August 1836 I was informed, by the gamekeeper at Tollymore Park, 

 that a few years previously three or four bitterns frequented the bogs 

 at the base of the mountains in that quarter during a winter. About 

 the same time one was killed at Kirkiston flow, in the Ardes. In the 

 winter of 1837-38 one was shot near Downpatrick, a few years before 

 which time several of these birds had been killed there in the course of 

 a winter. A bittern, sent on the 12th Dec. 1838 from Portaferry to 

 Belfast to be preserved, came under my inspection ; its stomach looked 

 amazingly large, containing, as it did, a rudd (Leuciscus erythroptlial- 

 mus) eight inches in length, and two and a half in depth. With the 

 exception of the head, this fish was quite perfect and unchanged in 

 colour. In addition to it were the remains of another fish, and of a full 

 grown frog ; likewise the head of a boat-fly (Notonecta). — On Nov. 24, 

 1841, I saw a beautiful specimen of this bird, which was also shot near 

 Portaferry ; the greater portion of an eel, which, when perfect, must — 

 according to the bird-preserver — have been about two feet in length, 

 was found in its stomach. — March 1, 1845. A male bird, shot at Tul- 

 lygirvan, came under my notice; it weighed 3 lbs. 13 oz. ; the stomach 

 contained the remains of five or six full grown frogs. — ■ Antrim, 

 Jan. 27, 1811. One found wounded in the bog meadows, near Belfast, 

 was taken to Mr. Templeton. — 8th Feb. 1838, a recent specimen killed 

 at Claggan came under my examination ; its stomach was filled with the 

 bonesof full grown frogs. — InPeb.1839 another was shot nearBallymena. 

 — Donegal. Mr. J. V. Stewart, in his paper on the Birds, &c. of this 

 county, published in 1831, remarks, — " I am informed that bitterns 

 were very common in this county thirty years ago ; from increased 

 cultivation and population they are now, however, very rarely to be 

 seen." In a letter subsequently received from that gentleman, he men- 

 tioned having met with only two pair of them, one of which frequented, 

 in the breeding season, an inaccessible marsh at the borders of a 

 lake near Milford. From the constant resort of the birds to the 



* In a fashionable quarter of London, some years ago, I remarked a bittern ex- 

 posed for sale during a fortnight without meeting with a purchaser, and the bird had 

 at last to be thrown away. 



VOL. II. M 



