HERONS, EGRETS, AND BITTERNS. 35 



should be re-introduced the old punishment of the ducking- 

 stool, seated in which, feathers, plumes and all, the peccant 

 dame should be made acquainted with five feet of water in the 

 nearest and dirtiest horsepond. The merchant who buys from 

 the collectors should be laid by the heels, or, rather, placed 

 on the treadmill for six months, whilst the actual collector 

 would be getting no more than his deserts if he were shot with 

 as little compunction as he shoots the victims. 



There are three or four varieties of the egret family in 

 China, but as authorities cannot agree as to their classic 

 names it may be as well to omit these altogether. Besides 

 the two kinds already mentioned there are two more to be 

 frequently met in the paddy fields during summer. They 

 both have a more or less ruddy buff colour on the head and 

 back, and are quite handsome birds. They may often be 

 seen sailing over the Shanghai Settlement. 



Another kind, the little green heron, is smaller than any 

 of the foregoing, standing only some ten inches or so in height. 

 Some of these will at times nest in the trees of Shanghai 

 gardens if unmolested. A pair might have been seen almost 

 any summer evening towards dusk fishing, or frog-catching, 

 in the creeks round the race-course three or four summers 

 ago. 



For bitterns I advise all interested in birds who have not 

 already done so to go to the Museum, where they will find 

 some well preserved specimens. A very remarkable bird is 

 the bitten, Botaurus Stellaris. He is a night feeder, a dweller 

 in swamps and marshes, skulker midst long grass, rushes, 

 and reeds, whence he emerges only when forced by Nature 

 or the sportsman's dog. How well he is adapted for his life 

 will be seen in a moment. His buff colour would secure his 

 being unnoticed in dried reeds or other growth, whilst 'the 

 black markings are the exact counterpart of the dark shadows 

 between stems. They are on a par with the stripes of the 

 tiger which, as every Anglo-Indian knows, enable that royal 

 gentleman simply to vanish as soon as he comes to the jungle. 

 At his full height the bittern stands about 30 inches. But 

 he has cousins which are considerably smaller than that, and 

 which are, I think, far more common in this neighbourhood 

 than he. No reference to the bittern could be complete 

 which did not speak of his boom. All sorts of curious ex- 

 planations have been offered respecting this strange sound. 

 But the truth appears to be that as it is never heard but in 

 the breeding season it must be referred to that instinct which 

 leads most males of avian nature to seek to charm their re- 

 spective mates by the elegant persuasiveness of song. We 

 have noted the efforts of the lark, the nightingale, the thrush, 

 and the blackbird in this connexion. The boom of the bittern 



