76 
REMARKS ON THE BITTERNS. 
out his legs backwards, appears to assume that attitude which is certainly more 
convenient for soaring, and which he still retains when he has gained the 
wished-for altitude. The Crane family always fly with the neck extended; and 
perhaps the loud cries of these birds, the vocal organs of which are similar to 
those of the wild British Swans, require that the neck should be straightened in 
order to give them their full intonation. Among the Crane family I do not 
include the Agami (Psophia J, which pertains to altogether a different division, 
being allied to the Tinamus. 
It has been said that the Bittern, when it emits its astounding note as it 
ascends circling, always stretches out its neck, which is not unlikely. The 
booming of this bird is a greater mystery than has been considered ; for there is 
nothing in the conformation of its vocal organs at all differing from what occurs in 
the rest of the Ardeidce. According to Dr. Richardson, the notes of the American 
and European species are precisely similar. Most of the Heron family have a 
single unvaried cry, which in the Common Heron may be likened to the sound 
qaank. 
The general exterior, habits, and deportment of the Grey Heron of Britain 
are popularly too well known to require much description ; and it might be 
supposed, as quite a matter of course, that its progressive stages from youth to 
maturity would be accurately described by every author who has written on 
British birds. So far, however, from this being the case, I am unaware of a 
single writer who has distinguished its three separate states of plumage, which 
are common to the two sexes. The perfectly adult garb of each is detailed by 
Montagu as that of the male; and their second plumage more briefly as that of 
the female; but when he additionally states that the young males resemble for 
some time the latter, it is clear that he had never actually compared them, but 
wrote at random, which was by no means a common practice with that acute 
observer. The young of the year, besides certain terminal pale spots on the 
wings, which are lost at the first moulting, have all the back plumage rounded, 
not exhibiting even a tendency to assume the acuminate form observable in the 
adults; and in their second plumage the dorsal feathers are considerably less 
elongated than in their subsequent attire. Montagu expresses surprise, moreover, 
at the great distance from any heronry at which these birds occur during the 
season of propagation; not being aware that the young of the preceding year 
continue solitarily dispersed until they attain the fully adult livery, in which 
only they are known to breed. I question whether any of the large Ardeidce 
propagate before they are two years old; unless the Bitterns do so, which is 
very probable, as I know from observation that these acquire their adult dress 
during the first autumn. 
The typical Bitterns may be stated to retain permanently that character of 
