ARDETTA MINUTA. 
Little Bittern. 
Ardea mimta, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 240. 
damihialis, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 637. 
Botaurus minutus, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 559. 
pusilhts, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl., p. 598. 
Ardeola mimita, Bonap. Geog. and Comp. List of Birds of Eur. and N. Amer., p. 48. 
Cancrophagus minutus, Kaup, Natiirl. Syst., p. 42. 
Butor minutus, Swains. Class, of Birds, vol. ii. p. 354. 
The Little Bittern, being a very shy and recluse bird, it is probable that many more examples may have 
come to England than have been detected ; however this may be, it has been killed in sufficient numbers, 
both in this country and in Ireland, to show that it is not one of the rarest of our British birds. Most 
of these have been obtained in the spring, just prior to the breeding-season, a period of the year when 
birds become restless and are prompted to wander, and probably baA^e been individuals which, during 
their passage from south to north, have been driven out of their course in a Avesterly direction, when, 
as a natural consequence, they would strike the British shores, and gladly seek rest by alighting thereon. 
If under these circumstances two or more of opposite* sexes were to meet, there is no reason why they 
should not breed and spend tlie summer among our marshes and fluviatile districts, as the Great Bittern 
used to do ; as yet, however, I believe neither eggs nor very young birds liaA^e been procured. That at 
least some of the specimens which have been obtained were birds which had been driven out of their 
intended course is evident from the follovAung notes, communicated to me by Mr. Gatcombe : — “ Early in 
May 1805, a pair of Little Bitterns were seen in the neighbourhood of Plymouth, one of which was caught by 
some boys, who said it was entangled in a bramble bush by the side of a stream. It was a male in fine 
plumage ; its companion flew away.” In another note Mr. Gatcombe says, “ it may interest you to know that 
a Little Bittern was obtained at the fishing-village of Beer, near Seaton, on the coast of Devon, on the 
20th of April, 1869. It was seen by some fishermen to alight in a boat lying on the beach, and was 
taken out of it in a most exhausted state ; and I know of several other examples Avhich haA^e been 
picked up in the same state on our coast.” 
Besides the above, instances are on record of the occurrence of the Little Bittern in Somersetshire, 
Herefordshire, Shropshire, South Wales, Dorsetshire, Hampshire, Middlesex, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, 
Yorkshire, Northumberland, and, lastly, in Cornwall, as detailed in the following notes from my friend 
E. H. Rodd, Esq., of Penzance: — “ June 14, 1866. I saw yesterday a A'ery beautiful specimen of a male 
Little Bittern in the highest development of plumage. It Avas killed at the large pool at Trescoe, one of 
the Scilly Islands ; its weight was exactly three ounces, and its ruff quite as large in proportion to the 
bird as that of the Bittern.” “April 12, 1867. An adult male Little Bittern, in fine plumage, like the 
one from Mr. Smith’s grounds in Scilly, was brought to me yesterday. It w'as killed not far from St. 
Michael’s Mount ; like the former it w^eighed three ounces.” 
Mr. T. White, Taxidermist, of Bath Road, Cheltenham, wTote November 20, 1867 : — “I have a Little 
Bittern, killed last winter within a mile of this town, at a pond full of dead rushes &c. There Avere 
three more, but I could not succeed in killing either of them ; they go off in the daytime, but come back 
at dusk.” 
Apart from the British Islands the Little Bittern ranges in summer over all the central and southern 
parts of Europe, and in winter is probably as extensively spread over Africa. Its occurrence in India 
is very doubtful ; for although Dr. Leith Adams includes it in his list of the birds of that country, 
Mr. Jerdon thiid<s it likely that he has mistaken the Ardetta sinensis for our species. 
Speaking of the bird in Norfolk, Mr. Stevenson says : — “ No doubt, from time immemorial, the Little 
Bittern has occasionally sought shelter in the luxuriant herbage of the “ Broad ’’-district, nor is it at all 
improbable that it may even have remained with us at times and bred, haAung been found in pairs during 
the summer months, and, in one instance, a perfect egg was taken from a female killed near Lowestoft. 
Its skulking habits, hovvcA^er, and the almost impenetrable nature of the sw^amps it frequents, render its 
detection, except by the merest accident, extremely improbable.” 
The situations described by Mr. StCA^enson are precisely those which the bird frequents in every country 
in Avhich it is found. During the spring it frequently perches on trees ; and Selby says that its usual 
