BITTERN. 
105 
considerable size, and in another, a Water-Rail whole and 
six small fishes, and Mr. Blyth in another the remains of 
other fish and some large coleopterous insects. 
The Bittern’s boom, for so is its note called, is supposed 
to resemble the bellowing of a bull, from whence the duplicate 
name it bears. It somewhat resembles the word assigned to 
it. It is uttered in the spring, the season of courtship, and 
is no doubt as sweet to the ear of the mate, as the most 
rich thrilling quaver to the enamoured nightingale, or the 
softest cooing to the gentle dove. Mr. Yarrell says, that 
when roused at other times, the bird makes a sharp harsh 
cry on rising, not unlike that of a Wild Goose, and in 
flight, but only during the night, a ‘craw, craw.’ The sound 
produced by the Bittern, is so peculiar and strange, that it 
has given rise to various superstitions, which have borrowed 
adventitious charms of alarm from the lonely places in which 
the note is for the most part heard. ‘The common people 
are of opinion that it thrusts its bill into a reed that serves 
as a pipe for swelling the note above its natural pitch, 
while others imagine that the Bittern puts its head under 
water, and then by blowing violently produces its boomings. It 
begins its call in the evening, booming six or eight times, 
and then discontinuing for ten or twenty minutes, it renews 
the same sound.’ The Bittern commonly booms while soaring 
high in the air with a spiral flight. 
The nest is made of sticks, reeds, and other rough mate¬ 
rials, and is generally placed on the ground, in the thickest 
part of the vegetation, not far from the water’s edge. Dr. 
Thieneman says that the bird is careful to put it upon a 
mass of fallen reeds and prostrate rushes, so as to be beyond 
the effects of any temporary rising of the water. 
The eggs, which are of a similar shape at either end, are 
from three to four or five in number, and of a uniform 
pale brown colour. The female sits on them, and the male 
brings her food while thus engaged. The young are soon 
able to shift for themselves. 
Male; the bill, sharp on the edges and pointed, is greenish 
yellow, the upper mandible varied with dark horn-colour 
towards the point; from the base on each side proceed large 
longitudinal streaks of dark brown and reddish brown; iris, 
yellow; under it descends a streak of rich deep brown. 
Head on the crown, which is somewhat depressed, black, 
tinged with metallic green and purple; the feathers at the 
