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a broad semicircle, and is maintained by slow and regular flappings. If unmolested, it may be 
observed stalking knee-deep in the water in search of food, with its neck inclined forward, raising its 
foot high at every step, as if deliberately measuring the ground. A live one brought to me by a 
native, enclosed in an eel-basket, lived in my possession for a week ; but it refused to take food of 
any kind, and died of sheer starvation, remaining fierce and untamable to the very last. On being 
approached it would erect or spread the feathers of the neck and throw forward the wings, thus 
presenting a very bold front to the enemy. On any object being placed near it, the bird would 
strike furiously with its pointed bill ; and it made frequent assaults of this kind on the network of 
its temporary cage. 
Layard writes from New Caledonia (Ibis, 1882, p. 531) “ We had heard of a wonderful bird 
that inhabited the swamps, even in the neighbourhood of Noumea, which frightened belated travellers 
and ‘ made night hideous ’ with its unearthly cries, and were therefore not astonished when our friend 
M. Saves presented us with a fine specimen of the Australian Bittern, shot at Ansevata. W^e subse- 
quently obtained a few other examples ; and we suspect that it is not very rare in suitable localities. 
From its retiring habits, however, it is seldom procured, unless purposely hunted, there being here 
no Snipe to tempt the shooters into swamps.” 
Dr. Kamsay writes of this bird in Australia : — “ It is far more plentiful in the Illawarra and 
southern districts of New South Wales than in any other part of the country I have visited. I have 
seen specimens from the lakes and marshes in the southern parts of Victoria, near Ballarat, and have 
also noticed it on the Herbert river, in the Kockingham Bay district, where it is considered a rare 
bird, although that part of the country is admirably adapted for its habits, abounding in extensive 
swamps and lagoons. They are still found to be not rare within a few miles of Sydney ; but the 
Illawarra district is the great stronghold of this species. 
I have a note from Mr. A. G. Nicholls giving an account of the manner in which he was attacked 
by a pair of Bitterns whose nest he had unconsciously approached when eel-fishing one evening at 
Kaipara. The birds made determined thrusts at his face with their bills, ruffling up their feathers 
and quivering their wings in a state of the highest excitement ; and so persistent were they that he 
at length seized one of them by the head and despatched it. On examining the place he found two 
well-grown nestlings, whose safety had undoubtedly been the cause of this unusual exhibition of 
temper on the part of birds habitually shy and recluse. 
The Bittern breeds in swamps, forming its rude nest of raupo and other aquatic vegetation 
loosely placed together, and sometimes completely surrounded by water. The eggs are usually four 
in number, although Mr. French, who is an excellent observer, informs me that he once found a nest 
of five near the Kaiapoi river ; they are generally of an even or regular ovoido-elliptical form, 
measuring 2-1 inches in length by 1-5 in breadth, and of a uniform pale brownish-olive colour. 
A nest of this species in the Canterbury Museum is small, flat-topped, and rounded, with a 
diameter of about 9 inches and a depth of 3 inches. It is composed entirely of dry rushes and flags, 
and contains three eggs of a uniform delicate creamy stone-colour. There is a specimen of the egg, 
however, in the Museum, of a delicate dull green, and three others of a greenish-cream colour. The 
green tinge is no doubt more pronounced in the shell when fresh. 
