300 
A DESCRIPTION OP 
tion at the tables of the great, and is again recovering its 
credit as a fashionable dish. The flesh is considered deli- 
cious. The bill is four inches long, to enable the bird to 
seize upon its prey. In autumn it changes its abode, 
always commencing its journey or change of place at sun- 
set. Its precautions for concealment and security seem 
directed with great care and circumspection. It usually 
sits in the reeds with its head erect; and thus, from its 
great length of neck, it sees over their tops, without being 
itself perceived by the sportsman. The principal food of 
the Bittern, during summer, consists of fish and frogs ; 
but in autumn these birds resort to the woods in pursuit 
of mice, which they seize with great dexterity, and always 
swallow whole. About this season they usually become 
very fat. 
THE SPOONBILL (Plataka lencorodia,) 
Is a large bird ; the colour of the whole body is white, 
and the resemblance of the bill to a spoon has caused the 
