130 BIRD BEHAVIOUR 



Sun-Bittern (Euryfyga helias) which bred in the 

 London Zoo at the zenith of that institution, when 

 it was under the Sclater and Bartlett management, 

 and really excellent results were got there. This 

 bird is described as being like a young Woodcock 

 or Snipe in appearance, with variegated down, and 

 it did not gape or cry like young birds generally, 

 but when the parents flew on to the nest, which 

 was at the top of a pole, with a small fish or other 

 food in their bills, it snapped or pecked the morsel 

 from them and devoured it. 



The Sun-Bittern is not well-named, for, in spite 

 of its carnivorous and wading habits, it is not at 

 all like a Bittern, and forms a family of its own, 

 related to the Rails ; evidently it is a bird whose 

 young are degenerating into the nestling type. 



Within this type are to be found, as wiU be in- 

 ferred from what has been said, varying degrees of 

 degeneracy ; young birds of prey, for instance, can 

 seize with their feet and tear up food before they 

 are out of the down. They will even walk about 

 a little, if their surroundings permit, while in this 

 stage, and so will young Penguins and even Pelicans, 

 though in the case of the latter there is often little 

 chance, as these birds as often as not nest on trees. 

 Young Nightjars are also quite able to run, and do 

 so for short distances. 



Young Larks may be perhaps returning to an 

 active condition, as they will ramble away from 

 the nest before fledging ; Mr. W. Farren has 

 amusingly described in a recent number of Wild 



