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6 



our European bird ; and the neck, especially, is more rufous ; and a still younger bird from the 

 Cape colony in my own collection is also darker than any of the young of Ardetta minuta. 



In Asia the Little Bittern ranges as far east as the Himalayas. Dr. Severtzoff believes that 

 it breeds in Turkestan ; and Mr. Blanford says (E. Pers. ii. p. 296), "I found the Little Bittern 

 common in two or three places in Southern Persia and Baluchistan amongst thick bushes and 

 reeds beside streams. Major St. John told me he had once before met with it in Southern Persia 

 after an unusually severe winter (as that of 1872 was). Eichwald mentions its occurrence on the 

 Caspian." Dr. Henderson found it breeding in Cashmere ; and Mr. A. O. Hume writes (Lahore 

 to Yark. p. 296) : — "This species is found in many parts of the interior of the Himalayas where 

 much rice is grown. I have it from Nepal, and have shot it at Syree, below Simla, in the upper 

 valley of the Bias, in Kulu, and in many similar localities, but always in the neighbourhood of 

 extensive rice cultivation." This gentleman further writes (Stray F. i. p. 256), " I obtained a 

 single specimen of this species, which I have never before known to occur in India out of the 

 Himalayas, in a lai'ge broad at Dost Ali, near Larkhana. I was beating a clump of reed, rush, 

 and tamarisk (a little island, in fact, of these) for Cetti's Warbler ; Coots and Water-hens 

 innumerable had been driven out, when I observed this queer little Heron creeping about 

 from bough to bough near the bases of the tamarisk bushes, and shot it. I never saw a second 

 specimen ; but if it always keeps as close in the daytime as this bird did, this is not to be 

 wondered at, since after I had secured a certain number of specimens of Cetti's Warbler, I 

 never again attempted to beat these thickets." In China, Japan, the Philippines, and Celebes 

 the Little Bittern is replaced by Ardetta sinensis (Gmel.), the male of which differs in having 

 the back deep brown, not black ; and in America it is replaced by Ardetta exilis. 



In general habits the present species is a regular Bittern ; but it is much more active and 

 graceful in its movements than the Bittern, or even any of the smaller Herons. When standing, 

 it holds its body erect, the neck being bent and drawn close in towards the body, the beak being 

 held horizontal ; and it frequently rests on one leg, the other being drawn up into its plumage. 

 When disturbed, it prefers to glide away amongst the dense aquatic foliage rather than take 

 wing, and is very hard to flush. It climbs about amongst the reeds or the branches of trees 

 with the greatest ease, and slips with celerity through the densest reed thickets. Its flight is 

 different from that of any of its allies ; for it uses its wings much more powerfully, and not only 

 flies swiftly, but it can turn and twist on the wing with tolerable ease. It is, however, very shy 

 and secretive in its habits, and is but seldom seen away from the densely overgrown marshy 

 places where it takes up its abode, except in the dusk of the evening, when it appears to fear 

 intrusion less than in the daytime. It feeds chiefly by night, and eats small fish, aquatic insects 

 of various kinds, small frogs, and but seldom shell-fish or worms. 



The call-note of the male during the breeding-season is not unlike that of the Bittern, but 

 is much softer, and resembles the syllables bum, bum, uttered two or three times slowly in 

 succession ; and the female when disturbed utters a note resembling the words gett, gett, gett. 



The nest of the Little Bittern is a somewhat heavy and clumsy structure of aquatic plants, 

 often intermixed with twigs in the foundation, and lined with finer grasses or flags ; it is placed 

 either near or far from the shore, less frequently on the ground than a little distance above it, 

 and always well hidden in marshy damp localities. Blasius says that all the nests he has taken 



