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Marwitz and Velten. About ten years ago it bred regularly near Weissensee. Altum mentions 

 it as breeding near Neustadt, Ew. ; Schulz received it from Copenick. According to Borggreve 

 it may possibly breed in the Lower and Middle Oderbruch. Our opinion is that the Little 

 Bittern has been more abundant in the Mark during the last few years. Migrant ; end of April, 

 end of October." 



It has been obtained on several occasions in Denmark. According to Collin one is recorded 

 by Teilmann as having been shot at Norholm, in Southern Jutland; there are two young birds 

 from Holstein in the Copenhagen Museum ; Mr. Gad shot one in his garden at Saeby ; and it has 

 been recorded from Soberg Mose, near Odense, near Bingsted, and at Ostrupgaard in Fyen. An 

 old bird was shot in Fodstette Mose, on Langeland, in June 1874; and according to Boie it is 

 said to have bred near Kiel ; but Mr. Benzon informs me that there is, so far as he can ascertain, 

 no authentic instance of a nest having been found in Denmark. In Western Germany the Little 

 Bittern breeds not unfrequently, especially, it is said, along the Rhine not far from Darmstadt ; 

 and I have met with it on several occasions in the Rhenish Provinces. In Holland it breeds in 

 the larger marshes and on the banks of the meres, though, as Mr. Labouchere informs me, not 

 so numerously as it used formerly to do. It arrives in May, and leaves again in September. In 

 Belgium it occurs somewhat irregularly, on passage, in spring and autumn ; but it visits the 

 Campine and Poldero more regularly, nesting on the Moselle. It arrives in the northern pro- 

 vinces of France in May, and leaves in the autumn ; and in the south of France it occurs at the 

 two seasons of passage, some few remaining to nest in the Camargue. 



It is said to be by no means common in Portugal, but numerous in some parts of Spain, 

 notably in the Albufera of Valencia. Colonel Irby says (Orn. Str. Gibr. p. 187): — "The Little 

 Bittern is, in Andalucia, entirely migratory, arriving late in April. Considerable numbers nest 

 among rushes and sedges. They are late breeders, nesting early in June, and laying as many as 

 six white eggs. I have no exact date of the autumnal migration; but they are all gone by 

 October." 



Passing eastward, again, I find this Bittern recorded as occurring in Savoy at the two seasons 

 of passage ; but very few ever remain there to breed. In Italy it arrives in the early spring, and 

 remains, in suitable localities, until the autumn ; in Sicily it is very abundant, especially in the 

 marshes of Catania, Lentini, and Terranova. Mr. Wright has met with it frequently in Malta, 

 especially in April, May, and September ; but Mr. Wharton only once met with it in Corsica, 

 near Bastia, in April. 



In Southern Germany it breeds here and there, and, according to Fritsch, is the commonest 

 of the Ardeidse in Bohemia, arriving in April and leaving in September, nesting even close to the 

 town of Prague. On the whole, it is not a common species near Cilli, in Styria, because large 

 reed-patches are wanting ; but Mr. Seidensacher informed me that he found a nest there on the 

 25th June 1862, quite close to the town. On passage he has seen examples as late as December. 

 Throughout Austria it is found, being by no means rare in suitable localities ; and in the marshes 

 of the Lower Danube it nests quite commonly, breeding in colonies with Ardea garzetta and 

 Arclea ralloides. 



In Southern Russia it is almost everywhere a common species. Von Nordmann says that it 

 frequents the gardens on the banks of streams near Odessa, and along the Salghir ; and, according 



