ClafsII. BITTERN. 343 



at the fame time a lingular noife. From the firft ob- 

 fervation, we believe this to be thefpecies of heron that 

 Virgil alludes to among the birds that forbode a 

 tempeft, 



In fkco ludunt fulicjs, notafque paludes 

 Deferit, atque akam fupra volat drdea nubeih* , 



For the antients mention three kinds -f; the Leucon,OT 

 white heron ; the Pellos, luppofed to be the common 

 fort ; and the Jfterias or bittern ; which feems to have 

 acquired that name from this circumftance of its af- 

 piring flight, as it were attempting, at certain feafons, 

 the very ftars ; though at other times its motion was 

 fo dull, as to merit the epithet of lazy. 



Some commmentators have fuppofed this to have 

 been the Taurus of Pliny ; but as he has exprefsly de- 

 clared that to be a fmall bird, remarkable for imita- 

 ting the lowing of oxen, we muft deny the explana- 

 tion; and wait for the difcovery of the Roman natura- 

 lift's animal from fome of the literati of Arks, in 

 whjch neighborhood Pliny fays the bird was found J. 

 In fize it is inferior to the heron : the bill is weaker, Defer, 

 and only four inches long : the upper mandible a little 

 arched •, the edges of the lower jagged : the rictus or 

 gape is fo wide, that the eyes feem placed in the bill : 

 the irides are next the pupil yellow -, above the yellow 

 incline to hazel : the ears are large and open. The 

 crown of the head is black ; the feathers on the hind 

 part form a fort of fhort pendent creft : at each corner 



* Gcorg. i. 363. 



t Arijt. hijl. an. loo6. Piin. lib. X. C. 60, 



% Lib. x, c. 42. 



of 



