The Bittern. ^ 29 



would think, is aware of, this protective resemblance, and it will often, if intruded 

 upon too suddenly to escape, throw itself into a stiff attitude, and drawing its 

 feathers tight against its body, pose as a bunch of the reeds among which it is 

 hiding. When at last flushed, the Little Bittern rises — the female uttering a 

 short kek-kek-like cry — perpendicularly from its retreat, flies a short distance with 

 a few strong and swift strokes, and drops hastily back again into the safe pro- 

 tection of the dense thicket. It will then skulk away — as it does when warned of 

 the approach of danger, — thrusting itself, rail-like, with great rapidity, through 

 the thickets, and elude both capture and observation with the utmost ease. Even 

 among low bushes it can scramble from branch to branch with great celerity, and 

 make its escape unseen and unsuspected. 



The Little Bittern is an interesting bird in confinement ; but Lord Lilford 

 says he experienced considerable difficulty in keeping it alive. Mr. Meade Waldo, 

 on the other hand, writes that he succeeded in keeping one he brought from 

 Madeira, for three years. A friend of Lord Lilford told that distinguished 

 ornithologist, that " a bird in his possession supported itself to a great extent by 

 catching the mice and lizards that came into the aviary, in which it was kept, in 

 the island of Tenerifie." 



Family— ARDEIDAl. 



The Bittern. 



Botaurus sfellaris, LiNN. 



THE Bittern has, undoubtedly, higher claims to be included in the list of 

 British Birds, than any others of the Heron family, with the exception of 

 the Ardea cinerea ; for it was in former times a resident and a regular breeder in 

 this country. Its favourite nesting grounds were the fen-lands of Cambridgeshire 



