ARDEINiE. BOTAURUS. 125 
hind part of the neck, wing-coverts, and breast, brownish-red, 
streaked with dusky and brown. 
Male, 14*, 22, 6|, 2, ltf, 1*, . 
This species, which is very extensively distributed in Eu- 
rope, Asia, and Africa, is rather of accidental than of regular 
occurrence in Britain, where it has not hitherto been observed 
to breed. Dr Fleming makes mention of one that was shot 
at Sanda, in Orkney ; but I am not aware of its having been 
killed, or even seen, on the mainland of Scotland. In many 
parts of England, however, it has been frequently procured. 
It inhabits the swampy sides of lakes and rivers, or wherever 
there is a rank growth of aquatic plants ; and feeds on small 
fishes, young frogs, newts, aquatic insects, worms, and mol- 
lusca. The eggs, four or five, are white, broadly elliptical, 
an inch and five-twelfths in length. 
Boonk. Long-neck. 
Ardea minuta, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 240.— -Ardea minuta, 
Lath. Ind. Ornith. ii. 683. — Ardea minuta, Temm. Man. 
d’Ornith. ii. 584. — -Ardea minuta, Little Bittern, MacGilli- 
vray, Brit. Birds, iv. 
219. Botaurus comatus. Squacco Bittern. 
Bill slender, blue at the base, black at the point ; feet 
greenish-yellow ; the whole upper part of the head and nape 
with long, linear, acuminate, decumbent, pale, yellow fea- 
thers, having a black line on the outer edges ; the anterior 
dorsal feathers elongated, with disunited filiform barbs ; the 
upper parts pale reddish-brown ; the wings, rump, and tail 
white ; the lower parts pale buff. 
Male, 19, . . , 9, 2J, 2 T 9 ¥ , 2 T y, tV 
This species occurs in various parts of Asia, Africa, and 
the south of Europe. Individuals migrate as far north as 
Germany, and several have been obtained in the southern 
counties of England. It has by some been referred to a ge- 
nus distinct from the Bitterns, to which the name of Buphus 
has been given. 
Ardea comata, Squaiotta, and castanea, Gmel. Syst. Nat. 
i. 632. — Ardea comata, Squaiotta, and castanea, Lath. Ind a 
Ornith. ii. 634, 635. — Ardea ralloides, Temm. Man. d ? Or- 
nith. ii. 581. — Botaurus comatus, Squacco Bittern, MacGil- 
livray, Brit. Birds, iv. 
