ge THE NATURAL HISTORY | 
He feldom flies, but when he entirely isles 
the marfh for fome other fituation, 
The Bittern makes a very loud and difagreeable 2 
~ noife, like the bellowing of a bull, but hollower 
and louder, and it is heard at the diftance si a 
mile. | 
~~ He deftroys a great auntie of frogs, and goes 
into the woods to kill rats, ith he {wallows 
‘whole. | ! 
Bitterns make their nefts upon tufts of rufhes, 
- {among the reeds) of the leaves of water plants, in 
the month of April. ‘They lay five or fix eggs, 
and hatch in twenty-four or twenty- -five days. 
_ The old ones feed their young with leeches, liz- 
zards, and the {pawn of frogs; and when they are _ 
a little grown, they bring to them young eels. 
- One of the old Bitterns continually watches the - 
neft.. z 
No bird. defends. itfelf better — the Bittesiit 5) 
~ he even ues his beak and his claws againit the 
: fowler who has fhot him. 
_ He is often hunted by Falcons, trained for that 
purpole : ; when he is terrified, he rifes very high 
among the clouds, flying upwards in a fpiral or 
| ‘winding direGtion. On this account he was called 
iby the Latins, a or the Stan seaeiadg 
«Bird, | 
| _ The 
