260 



parts generally ochreous, the lower neck-feathers much elongatedj forming a pectoral tuft or bunch, 

 the feathers which are covered by this tuft being blackish brown bordered with ochreous ; bill and legs 

 greenish yellow; iris and bare space round the eye yellow. Total length about 12 inches, culmen 2 - l, 

 wing 5 - 83, tail 2 - 4, tarsus l - 72, bare portion of tibia very small, indeed scarcely perceptible. 



Adult Female (Italy) . Crown black but with a brown tinge, slightly glossed, sides of the head and neck 

 and hind neck rufous ; back and scapulars deep chestnut-brown, the feathers margined with ochreous ; 

 tail black glossed with bottle-green ; quills dark dull brown ; wing-coverts deep ochreous, the shoulder 

 with a patch of chestnut-red ; chin white with a central ochreous stripe ; underparts as in the male, but 

 streaked with white. Culmen T95, wing 5 - 7, tail T9, tarsus 1*75. 



Young Male. Somewhat resembles the female, but has the upper parts more varied with buff, and the neck 

 and underparts generally are clearly striped with deep brown, and are of a deeper ochreous tinge. 



Young in down {fide Stolker). Covered with soft ochreous yellowish down, which allows the pink of the 

 flesh to show through here and there; on the crown and back the down is longer than elsewhere; bill, 

 legs, and the bare portions about the eye, except a dark line from the gape to the eye, yellowish green ; 

 iris dark brownish. 



Throughout the whole of Temperate Europe the Little Bittern is not uncommon in the summer. 

 It has, however, occurred in Sweden, but is in general a rare straggler to the northern portions 

 of Europe. In the autumn it passes southward ; and in the winter season it is found tolerably far 

 into Africa. It appears to range only into Western Asia, being replaced in Eastern Asia by 

 Ardetta sinensis. 



In Great Britain it is a somewhat rare summer visitant, but has been recorded from many 

 parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland, though less frequently from the two latter countries. 

 Mr. Stevenson enumerates about twenty instances of its capture in the " Broad " districts of 

 Norfolk and Suffolk, of fourteen of which he has the exact dates, nine having been killed in 

 May, June, and July, four in December and February, and one in September. As may be 

 supposed from the nature of the country, it has been observed more frequently in these two 

 counties than elsewhere in England ; but it has been recorded from Devonshire, Dorsetshire, 

 Cornwall, Herefordshire, Hampshire, Berkshire, Middlesex, Yorkshire, Northumberland, &c. 

 Professor Ansted includes it as occurring in Guernsey; but there is no specimen in the Museum. 

 Mr. Cecil Smith, however, records the capture of one there in November 1876. Referring to its 

 occurrence in Dorsetshire, Mr. Mansel-Pleydell says that one was killed at Preston, near Wey- 

 mouth, in 1840, and three which had been shot on the Wareham river passed through Mr. Hart's 

 hands in 1866. Mr. Cordeaux (B. Humb. Distr. p. 104) states that one was shot near Gains- 

 borough in the spring of 1870, an immature female was killed on the Mere, near Scarborough, 

 in August 1863; and in Mr. Boulton's collection there was an adult male obtained in Lincoln- 

 shire. According to Hancock, " it is an extremely rare casual visitant to Northumberland and 

 Durham. A mature male was shot at Blaydon, near Newcastle, on the 12th of May 1810 ; this 

 specimen is now in the Newcastle Museum, and is the individual figured by Bewick. Another 

 example was killed in April 1859 in the garden at Denton Hall, three miles west of Newcastle, 

 and is in the possession of Mr. Hoyle. A third individual was shot at Benridge, Woolsington, 

 Northumberland, in 1866, and is in the collection of Mr. C. M. Adamson: this specimen is a 



