384 COMMON BITTERN. 
ing to the Outer Hebrides, the Shetlands, and, perhaps, the Orkneys. 
In Ireland it is now chiefly found in winter, especially in co. Cork, 
though it used to breed in the south up to the first quarter of this 
century. 
The Bittern is a rare visitor to the southern portion of Norway, 
but it is a spring-migrant to Sweden up to about 60° N, lat. ; while 
in Eastern Russia it can be traced to 57°, and in Western Siberia 
to Yeneseisk. Southward, it is distributed in summer through- 
out the Palearctic region, from Japan and China to the Azores ; and 
it is resident in the warmer portions of Europe, where its numbers 
are augmented in winter by visitors from the north. It is found in 
Northern Africa, but is represented in the south by 2. capensis. 
Extensive reed-beds are the usual nurseries of this skulking 
species; but sometimes it selects swamps on the margins of 
unfrequented lakes. The nest, placed on the ground amongst the 
thickest herbage, is composed of dry reeds heaped together ; the 
eggs, often laid in March or April, and usually 4 in number, are of 
a uniform brownish-olive colour, sometimes with a green tint when 
fresh : measurements 2°1 by 1°5 in. They are laid at intervals of 
several days, and incubation lasts about 25 days; while the young 
do not quit the nest till nearly able to provide for themselves. The 
Bittern usually feeds at night, and is seldom seen on the wing in 
the day, during which it remains in thick beds of reeds ; but 
I have seen it take shelter in a tree on the skirt of a marsh. 
The flight is dull and flagging, and seldom sustained to any 
great distance, except on migration. In the breeding-season the 
male makes a loud booming or bellowing noise, whence, probably, 
the term Botaurus ; but at other times the bird utters a sharp, harsh 
cry. The food consists of small mammals, birds, fish, water-beetles, 
lizards, frogs, and almost anything that can be swallowed. The 
Bittern has been described as a solitary bird; but forty to fifty have 
been observed on the wing in a flock, and in Lower Egypt Capt. 
Shelley got close to about a score reposing among the reeds. When 
wounded, the bird lies with the neck drawn in, but this can be shot 
out with startling rapidity and effect. 
The adult has the crown and nape black ; general colour buff, 
irregularly barred above and streaked below with black ; feathers of 
the neck long and forming an erectile ruff; tail of 10 soft feathers ; 
primary-coverts and quills barred with black and chestnut; bill 
greenish-yellow ; legs and feet grass-green. Length 28 in.; wing 13 in. 
The sexes are alike in plumage. In the young bird the colour of 
the quills and coverts is nearly uniform. 
