160 EARLY ANNALS OF ORNITHOLOGY 
It is not clear to whom Gesner alludes as Germans, but 
it is presumably to some author or authors. Apart from the 
letterpress, one cannot, with all desire to praise, say much 
tor Gesner’s artist, for his figure,* which is the earliest attempt 
at delineating a Solan Goose, is poor, and not without reason 
did Mathurin Brisson ironically designate it as “ icon pessima.”’ 
On the other hand, some of Gesner’s pictures are excellent, 
considering the date and the circumstances under which they 
were done, as, for example, that of the Cormorant,t which is 
one of the best in the book. 
Another good one is the Bittern, of which our author 
gives a very full history, quoting Turner, but there is not much 
that is original in the rest of his narrative, a few paragraphs 
of which may be worth translating. 
“In Italian it [the Bittern] is called Trumbono, from its 
having the voice of a trumpet, as I think: and it is called the 
trumpet bird (whether this or another) among the Greeks ; 
by others Zarabusso [bull-roarer], or Terrabusa [earth-roarer], 
especially by those of Ferraria, as if it blows through the 
earth, for with its beak plunged in the marshy soil it gives 
forth aterrible noise. J thinkitis the same as, with diminished 
voice, they call aigeron, that is ardeola, for they say that it is 
rufous. . . . its voice when strained being as great as that 
of a bull, which may be heard at the distance of half a German 
mile, that is half an hour’s journey: and it is said to be a 
sign of rain. The inhabitants of our lake Tigur [in Zurich] 
rejoice when this noise is heard, and promise themselves a 
fruitful year... . The Ardea stellarts which I myself have 
seen was smaller and shorter than the other, whose description 
we shall subjoin together with its shape: with the same 
colours all over its body, variegated and choice, after the 
fashion of the country partridge, or woodcock, russet or 
somewhat yellow, sprinkled with black spots and all shiny, 
especially on its back, with legs of a greenish-yellow, with 
black head, and neck the length of three spans and three 
fingers: the remainder of its body only three spans long. 
Its big claw was toothed on one side, the middle toe exceeded 
the human middle toe by a nail and a half’s breadth. Its 
* T.c., p. 158. 
+ P. 132. 
