THE BITTERN. 165 



rather plentiful in the Dublin market, which is supplied from 

 several counties ; and one was obtained in the county of Down. 

 In that of 18-i8-49, they were killed in different parts of Ireland; 

 five (as already noticed) being sent, during one week in January, 

 to Dublin to be preserved; one was shot, in November, near 

 Waterford ; and another, late in the winter, in the county of 

 Kerry.* 



Winter being the season at which bitterns chiefly visit Ireland, 

 their migration from more northern latitudes is thereby indicated. 

 They annually breed in Scandinavia. I have not seen sufficient 

 data to enable a satisfactory conclusion to be arrived at respecting 

 the frequency of the visits of this species to England or Scotland ; 

 and hence cannot with confidence draw the usual comparison 

 respecting the numbers found in the three countries. The 

 bird is, however, probably as often met with in Ireland as in 

 England; and more frequently in the former country than in 

 Scotland.! 



Mr. R. Ball remarks that — " Bitterns in confinement exhibit 

 an extraordinary power of remaining fixed in any position in 

 which they happen to be, when a spectator fixes his eyes upon 

 them. In the instance of one kept in a garden at Youghal, the 

 owner came suddenly on the bird, which was at the moment in 

 an attitude of some difficulty ; it seemed as if seized with cata- 

 lepsy. The gentleman sat down near, and watched it for two 

 hours, during which time the bird did not make the slightest 

 movement, and finally exhausted his patience." The Great 

 Plover (as will be seen by a note under that species) has a 

 similar habit ; and Audubon, in his description of the American 

 bittern, remarks — " In Lower Louisiana it is called the ' Garde 

 Soleil/ because they say it will stand on one foot for hours, with 



* Three bitterns, all fine specimens, were stated, in the communication from Mr. J. 

 "Wright, Lymington, Hants, to the Zoologist, to have been shot within a few miles 

 of that place in the three weeks preceding Jan. 11, 1849. On the 8th of this 

 month one was shot in the county of Norfolk. (Zoologist, May 1849, p. 2421.) 



t Mr. St. John remarks, in reference to the year 1848 : — " The bittern is rare [in 

 Sutherland] ; but I have heard its cry near Shinness on loch Shin." (Tour in Suther- 

 land, vol. i. p. 138.) 



