LITTLE BITTERN IN CAPTIVITY. 455 



neck to its full length, sometimes directly upwards, sometimes 

 swaying it forward or sideways, sometimes stretching it out, still 

 at full length, and inclined downward, till the tip of the beak just 

 rested on the ground. In all these movements the head and beak 

 were kept in a nearly continuous straight line with the neck when 

 the latter was extended. Then it would sink down with its long 

 neck folded against its breast, and its head and beak directed 

 straight upward, in which position the " ruff" of feathers on the 

 throat formed a smooth, regular, keel-shaped projection from chin 

 to breast. Directly we put our faces near it, it gave a vicious lunge 

 straight for an eye, which made us glad of the intervening glass. 

 But though it could never resist such an opportunity, it would 

 not, while I was there, trouble itself to attack a finger or hand 

 held out toward it. 



To thoroughly appreciate the eerie look of the bird, it was 

 necessary to look up at it from underneath while its head was 

 stretched straight up. Its bright eyes with their light yellow 

 irides glared down straight at me in a most unaccountable way, 

 and as I moved to one side or the other, its throat and eyes 

 seemed automatically to turn facing me, so that I could somewhat 

 sympathise with any wretched young frog or other prey that, in a 

 similar position to mine, might try to steal away unobserved. 



The tarsi were usually inclined upward and backward, and the 

 bird appeared sometimes to rest with the proximal ends of the 

 tarsi on the ground. The toes have a most remarkable prehensile 

 power, and when Mr. Pratt took the bird in his hand, it curled 

 its hind toes up so that the point of each not only touched the 

 base, but actually curled half-way up upon itself in a most 

 extraordinary way. It sat firmly on the perch of a Blackbird's 

 cage, in which it was placed when first caught, and closed its hind 

 toe firmly and closely round the tape which formed the fastening 

 of the birdstuffer's apron. 



The attitudes were so remarkable that I prevailed on 

 Mr. Pratt to allow me to have it photographed ; and though it 

 was 6 o'clock in the evening, and there was none too much light, 

 his neighbour Mr. Norman managed to get a few striking por- 

 traits, two of which (reproduced in Plate III.) may interest your 

 readers. Allowance must be made for lack of daylight and other 

 difficulties, but the drawings give a very fair idea of two of the 

 most grotesque attitudes indulged in. 



