BITTERNS. 
299 
Little Bittern. 
unless disturbed, rouse themselves from their slumbers in the daytime; but when 
the young are hatched, the parents are compelled to go abroad in search of food 
during the daylight hours. Perching with its neck resting on its shoulders, the 
night-heron when disturbed from its slumbers flies but a short distance, and again 
settles. When on the wing, the head is drawn in between the shoulders, and the 
legs stretched out behind; the flight being slow and flapping, and the course of the 
bird indicated in the darkness by the utterance from time to time of a characteristic 
hoarse croak. In Europe the breeding-season lasts from May to July; the nests 
being generally placed in bushes or low trees near swamps, but at other times in 
groves which may be also tenanted by other members of the order, and rarely 
among reeds. Large numbers of birds associate in these breeding-places; and 
when the young are hatched, the noise made by the birds as darkness comes on is 
described as deafening. The nests in some places are made of rice-straw, and are 
remarkable for their size and solid structure; and the pale greenish blue eggs vary 
from three to five in number. The food of these birds comprises aquatic insects, 
worms, molluscs, frogs, and small fish. 
Omitting mention of some important genera, brief reference must 
be made to the little bittern (Ardella minuta), as the representative 
of a small genus in some respects connecting the night-herons with the true 
bitterns. These birds are much smaller than the night-heron, measuring only 13 
inches in length, while agreeing with the foregoing genera in having the second 
quill of the wing the longest (although but slightly so), and the third toe shorter 
than the metatarsus; they differ in having only ten short feathers in the tail, in 
the tibia being feathered nearly to the ankle, and in the greater length of the toes. 
The legs are rather short; and the straight, slender, pointed beak is slightly longer 
than the head. In the male the plumage of the crown of the head, nape, back, 
and shoulders, as well as the primaries and tail-feathers, are shining greenish black ; 
and the wing-coverts and under-parts tawny buff, marked on the breast and flanks 
with black. The beak, lore, and iris are yellow; and the legs and feet greenish 
yellow. The smallest member of the heron tribe found in Britain, where it is an 
occasional visitor, the little bittern ranges over Southern Europe to Northern 
Africa, and extends eastwards to Kashmir and North-Western India. Migrating 
to South Africa, it is represented there by a distinct resident species; while in 
America its place is taken by a smaller form. 
Before the drainage of the fens and the general advance of 
cultivation, the boom of the bittern was a familiar sound in many 
parts of England, but the bird is now only a somewhat rare visitor, although 
a nest was taken as late as the year 1868. The common bittern (Botaurus 
stellaris ) belongs to a genus easily characterised by the great length of the 
toes, of which the third is as long as the metatarsus, by the three first quills 
being of nearly equal length and the longest in the wing, and by the short 
tail comprising ten soft feathers. The strong beak is rather longer than 
the head, somewhat higher than broad, and with the extremity of its upper 
mandible slightly curved downwards; the longitudinal slit-like nostrils being 
partially covered by a bare membrane. The legs are of medium length, 
feathered nearly down to the ankle, and with large scutes on the front of the 
Bitterns. 
