128 A CATALOGUE Oh' THE iilKDS 



1859, in the garden at Denton Hall, thi-ee miles west of New- 

 castle, and is in the possession of Mr. Hoyle. A third individual 

 ■was shot at Benridge, "Woolsington, jSTorthnmberland, in 1866, 

 and is in the collection of Mr. C. M. Adamson : this specimen is 

 a mature male. 



126. BOTAURUS, Step/tens. 



46. BiTTEEX. I). sTEiLArxis, {Liiuimis.) 



Ardea stellar is, Bewick, Hist. Brit. Birds, Ed. 1847, II., 47. 

 Botcmrm „ Yarrell, Hist. Brit. Birds, Ed. 2, II., 539. 



The Bittern is a rare, casual visitant. It appears to have been 

 pretty abundant in the marshy regions of ^Northumberland, be- 

 fore the moorlands were so extensively di'ained and cultivated. 

 Wallis, in his "History of Northumberland," Vol. I., p. 323, 

 says, ''Most of our alpine mosses have its company," and that 

 "a moss to the north of Many Laws, in the parish of Carham, 

 is rarely without it." 



There arc four or five entries in my journal of the capture of 

 the Bittern in Northumberland, and about the same number in 

 Durham ; and many others have occurred. A specimen was 

 killed at Eelton, November, 1871. 



127. NYCTICORAX, Stephens. 



47. Night Hekox. N. EuKOPJ^rs, Ste2)hcns. 



Nydicorax ardcola, Bewick, Hist. Brit. Birds, Ed. 1847, II., 55. 

 Gardeni, Yarrell, Hist. Brit. Birds, Ed. 2, II., 549. 



This species is a very rare, casual visitant. It has occurred 

 only twice in the district. The first is mentioned in Mr. Selby's 

 "Eeport on the Ornithology of Berwickshire," published in the 

 "Proceedings of the Berwickshire Naturalist Club," Vol. I., 

 p. 254, where it is stated that " a fine specimen was killed some 

 years ago, at the Hirsel, and presented to tlic Edinburgh Museum 

 by the Earl of Holme." The second capture is also recorded in 

 tlie "Proceedings of llie Berwickshire Naturalist Club," 1870, 



