u. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 239.
■n., tom. y. p. 444, tab. 37. fig. I.
teph. Cont. of Shaw’s Gen. ZooL, vol. xi. p. 693, pi. 45.
tcuslru, et armdinaceus, Brehm, Handb. der Naturg. Vog
tins. Class. of Birds, vol. ii. p. ,354.
tellaris, Schrenck, Vog. des Amurlandes, p. 463.
1 h a t oar pkr« i fens undergone great physical changes, and that these changes arc still progressing, is
certain x mb they are not all due to natural agencies, for the minor operations of man have played their part
m effecting them. The clearing o f forests, the draining o f marshes, and the damming hack of encroaching
seas have a tendency to alter th e condition o f every country where such operations are carried o n ; and
m a little island like England these tendencies arc perhaps more marked than elsewhere, the result bring a
great disturbance o f our natural productions, both animal and vegetable. Seven hundred years ago, when
obin Hood bent his bow, and sent his bolt after the stag, the physical condition of England was verv
i eren to what it is. at the present m oment: the forests o f Nottinghamshire have become arable land, the
barren chaces fields of waving corn, and the great meres o f Cambridge and Huntingdonshire luxuriant with
cereals; where so lately as fifty years ago the boatman threaded his w-n
formerly a waste of waters. Before these ch anm took nlarp ti>P
O f lie
fastni
he could ’
s leading to farmsteads and
lirough districts which were
rf our country was in a state
i molestation, for it dwelt in
idst o f many square miles, of
ponds and brooks and in the moist part «1 ope;? t»o*»rs. •mi« a* were then more or v«-«»r,eroi, % m every
county. Few o f such situations were then without the Bittern. Now the hint is m s o » that a v Iisummer
may pass away without one being seen; if any still remain, the reedy broad, o f Norfolk m i I
unreclaimed parts o f Lincolnshire are the only localities in which they may be found. There, if «MBsatfhcd.
they would continue to breed ; and were the proprietors o f such district, to forbid the .h s tm s n » ■■■
Bittern and others o f our indigenous maTsh-birds, they would effect for more good than by attempting
introduction o f exotic animals, which, in my opinion, will never he rewarded with much success'. Pray, then, i f
u . still sec this weird bird in some p art of England; let there still be a marsh left where the “ w ilU ’-tbe-wi.p"
lenistvc powers, and th&?boom o f the Bittern be h e a rd ; for both fever and ague would the
ornithologist risk to »re the bird m a state o f nature. What are the habits and economy o f this dweHer
among reedy and sloppy places, o f misty m d aguish marshes ? They are strictly nocturnal;
for, disliking the sunshine, the Bittern p*««**» whole d«yc in a secure nook antoag the rushes, or beside some
sheltered pool, and a t nightfall stealthily W f h o f frwg* «ad insects, o r patiently stands
motionless in the shallows, watching for « feb dw ftg vt *» .w,v,a trear-> raii, a ra,t, or a shrew, all of
which it captures by a dexterons.- quiet, indeKTihublc il, ueeh. followed by a sudden m i
unerring d a rt of its lengthened hill.
To give a resume of the samenw« instances recorded in whsrfe fr«- has b
during the last few years, would 6» a v*tn»e Selby, Maegilfivray, Thompson,
1, have ai
copious details on this point, the sum and sttfetimK ;■ o f which is that the Bitten
been found in every county during the la»t twenty years * that in one winter no
while, on the other hand, a succession of year* {»?«*■*• : during which it h.*
that when it is numerous we may infer that the individuals are not native-bred b
from the neighbouring continent, itt search of a -^¡v .emal climate Thai m
here and breed-, there can be no doubt, were it. not for the unfriend!* retention •
with. The winter o f 1863—64 was a happy one 5«? ^ gunner, and an equal
B itte rn ; for examples were then killed in every part i-f «he country, from the ex
the northernmost p art o f Scotland. Years mft.y efottae numbers v
slaughter o f so many individuals must tend to diminish the race ; and although g
Belgium and Holland, the time is not for distant wftea in those aotiatyic*, w itt ot
a comparatively rare bird. But there are many large districts in EttAtcrw Karmw
among the reed-loving birds s and until f W