LITTLE BITTERN. 



ARDETTA MINUTA {Linn.). 



Ardea ininuta, Linn. S. N. i. p. 240 (1766) ; Naum. ix. 

 p. 194. 



Botaurus micutus, Macg. iv. p. 423 ; Hewitson, ii. p. 315. 

 Ardetta minuta, Yarr. ed. 4, iv. p. 200; Dresser, vi. p. 259. 



Heron blongios, French ; Kleine Rohrdommel, German ; 

 Garza chica, Garzon pequeno, Spanish j Gomet, 

 Valencian. 



Although there is a considerable amount of authentic 

 circumstantial evidence in favour of the breeding of this 

 very remarkable bird in our country, I am not aware 

 that there is more than one recorded instance of the 

 actual rinding of its nest in England ; the particulars of 

 this occurrence may be found quoted from Lubbock's 

 'Fauna of Norfolk' (1879), at p. 202, vol. iv. of 4th 

 edition of Yarrell's 'British Birds,' and are to the effect 

 that Mr. Thos. Southwell, in a footnote at p. 90 of the 

 former work, states that Mr. Rising, of Horsey, assured 

 him that about the year 1822-23 a nest of the Little 

 Bittern, containing eggs, was found close to the parson- 

 age at Catfield, Norfolk. I have been assured, on what 

 I hold to be unimpeachable authority, of the occurrence 

 of young birds of this species in one of our southern 



