510 BRITISH BIRDS. 



BOTAURUS MINUTUS. 



LITTLE BITTERN. 



(Plate 38.) 



Ardea ardeola, Briss. Orn. v. p. 497, pi. xl. fig. 1 (1760). 



Ardea ardeola nsevia, Briss. Orn. v. p. 500, pi. xl. fig. 2 (1760). 



Ardea mimita, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 240 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum— 



Latham, Temminck, Naumann, {Bonaparte), (Dresser), &c. 

 Botaurus minutus (Linn.), Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 659. 

 Oancrophagus minutus (Linn.), Kaup, Nat. Syst. p. 42 (1829). 

 Botaurus pusillus, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 598 (1831). 

 Butor minutus (Linn.), Swains. Classif. B. ii. p. 354 (1837). 

 Ardeola minuta (Linn.), Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. Sf N. Amer. p. 48 (1838). 

 Ardetta minuta (Linn.), Oray, lAst Gen. B. Appeand. p. 13 (1842). 



The Little Bittern is another of those birds which were first recorded as 

 British by Pennant^ who states that a male was shot whilst perched on 

 one of the trees of the public walks in Shrewsbury (Brit. Zool. ii. p. 537); 

 and Latham records a second example killed in 1773, near Christchurch, 

 in Hampshire (Gen. Syn. iii. p. 66). It is a very rare summer visitor to 

 this country, but there is no reliable instance of its eggs ever having been 

 obtained in our islands. It has occurred most frequently on the marshes 

 of the Norfolk broads, but has also been obtained in most counties on the 

 south and east coasts of England. In Scotland and in Ireland it is much 

 rarer; but it has occurred both in the Shetland and Orkney Islands, and 

 also in Aberdeenshire and East Lothian, and at least half a dozen times in 

 Ireland. The Little Bittern has been obtained most frequently in our 

 islands in spring and summer, but several examples have been shot in 

 winter. 



The Little Bittern is a summer migrant to Europe south of the Baltic, 

 and has occurred as an accidental straggler in Iceland, the Faroes, and the 

 Scandinavian peninsula. It is a resident in the Azores, Madeira, Algeria, 

 and to a limited extent in Egypt, and winters in various parts of South 

 Africa as far south as the Transvaal. It is a summer visitor to Palestine, 

 Asia Minor, Persia, Baluchistan, Cashmere, North-west Turkestan, and 

 the Western Himalayas. 



The Little Bittern has several very near allies. To the east, ranging 

 through India, China, Japan, the Philippines, and Celebes, it is represented 

 by Ardea sinensis, a very distinct species, which may at once be distin- 

 auished by having the back brown instead of black. But there are three 

 black-backed species which appear to be very closely aUied to our bird ; 

 all of these may be distinguished from it by having the neck rich dark 



