32 



British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs 



leaves of the flags, and rushes. From three to five smooth, somewhat glossy eggs, 

 often pointed at both ends, of a buffish-grey colour, are laid. They become darker 

 when blown, and are yellowish brown inside when viewed by transmitted light. 

 In length they vary, according to-Seebohm, " from 2-15 to 1-97 inch, and m breadth 

 from I 55 to 1-45 inch." After about twenty-five to thirty days of incubation, the 

 young chicks break into the world, covered with long, rather loose, rusty yellow, 

 hair-like down, which gradually gives place to plumage of the same colour as their 

 parents'. The young are helpless at first, and require to be fed till they are fully 

 fledged, when they leave the nest able to provide for themselves. 



The Bittern, as already stated, is nocturnal in its habits, more so than the 

 Little Bittern, or the Night-Heron. Both on this account, and from its shy 

 skulking character, direct observation of the bird is extremely difEcult, and there 

 are very few naturalists who have had the opportunity of keeping it under obser- 

 vation for more than a few minutes at a time. It seldom goes in the daylight 

 for an extended flight in the open. During migration a flock has occasionally 

 been seen passing overhead ; but as a rule its flights consist of a rapid ascent 

 when disturbed in its retreat, and a sudden drop into the reeds a few yards off. 

 On the wing it carries its head drawn in on its back, and its feet straight out 

 behind. 



The Bittern has a voracious appetite, it feeds on all aquatic animals, insects, 

 mollusca, frogs, and fishes. It has been known to have at one time in its stomach 

 a four ounce roach, besides other fishes : small birds do not come amiss to it, and 

 a water rail, which must have been swallowed whole, has been discovered within 

 one of them awaiting digestion. 



The Bittern has been but little kept in confinement ; its pugnacious disposition, 

 and the hostile manner in which it uses its beak when out of temper, rendering 

 it a dangerous pet.* 



" In its habits the Bittern is a somewhat mysterious peculiar bird," to quote 

 Mr. Dresser's interesting account, " seldom seen during the day-time, unless sud- 

 denly surprised and driven from its hiding place, where it rests by day, and only 

 begins to move about as the dusk of evening sets in. Reed-covered marshy 

 localities are its favourite haunts, especially when the tract covered by these reeds 

 is large and difficult of access, for there it can remain all day undisturbed. It 

 never flies round during daylight of its own accord, and even when flushed, flies 

 off with a somewhat laboured flight, like an Owl in the sunshine, and drops again 



* The Rev. H. A. Macpherson writes: — "A Bittern, which had been captured in one of the marshes, near 

 Yarmouth, in an unfledged state, lived for upwards of five years in the aviary- of Mr. C. Jecks. It was usually 

 fed on fish, but when that was impracticable would eat anything that was supplied, swallowing little birds 

 entire." (of. Dixon, "The Dovecote and Aviary," p. 333.) 



