him come rather close before it rose. Its stomach was empty; but it was very fat, and very good eating; for
we roasted i t ! The sex was unfortunately not noted. The glottis was peculiar, so that I suppose it must
have had the powerful voice o f the common species.” Dr. Robinson, on being informed that it was the
American Bittern, most liberally presented the bird to the Belfast Museum.
In the same month o f February 1846 in which Mr. Thompson’s account o f the Irish bird appeared in the
1 Annals,’ the ‘ Zoologist ’ contained a notice by Mr. James Cooper, of Preston, o f an example of this Bittern
having been killed about the 8th o f December, 1845, in the neighbourhood of Fleetwood, in Lancashire.
The above are, I believe, all the examples known to have occurred in our islands.
The Botaurus lentiginosus being strictly an Americau bird, it is to the writers on the avifauna of that
country that I must now refer for an account of its habits and manners. But first with regard to its range.
Audubon informs us that in winter it resides chiefly to the southward o f the United States, the only districts
in which he met with it being the peninsula of Florida and its islands and the lower parts of the valley of
the Mississippi. Captain Blakiston states that it “ is not uncommon in the interior o f British North America.”
Mr. Murray notices it from the coast of Hudson’s Bay ; and Mr. Ross gives the range on the Mackenzie to
the Arctic coast. Mr. H. E. Dresser remarked that it was common and resident in southern T ex a s; Mr.
Salvin observed it a t Duenas and Coban (in Guatemala); it was noticed by Dr. E. Coues on his journey from
Arizona to the Pacific ; and Mr. Brown includes it in his ‘ Synopsis o f the Birds of Vancouver Island.’
“ In Lower Louisiana,” says Audubon, “ it is seldom obtained in spring, but is a regular autumnal
visitant, appearing early in October and frequenting the marshes both o f fresh and salt water, where many
remain until the beginning of May. It is then common in the markets of New Orleans, where it is bought
by the poorer classes to make gombo soup. In almost every other p art o f the United States it is commonly
called the ' Indian Pullet ’ or ‘ Indian Hen.’
“ Although in a particular place, apparently favourable, some dozens o f these birds may be found today,
yet, perhaps, on visiting it tomorrow you will not find one remaining; and districts resorted to one season or
year will be found deserted by them the next. Tha t they migrate by night I have always felt assured; but
that they are altogether nocturnal is rather uncertain, for in more than half a dozen instances I have surprised
them in the act o f procuring food in the middle o f the day, when the sun was shining brightly. That they
are extremely timid I well know; for on several occasions, when I have suddenly come upon them, they have
stood still, from mere terror, until I have knocked them down with an oar or a stick. Yet, when wounded
and their courage is raised, they show great willingness to defend themselves ; and if in the presence o f a
dog, they never fail to spread out to their full extent the feathers o f the neck, leaving its hind p art bare,
ruffle those o f the body, extend their wings and strike violently a t their enemy. When seized they scratch
furiously, and endeavour to b ite ; so that, unless great care be taken, they may inflict severe wounds. I never
saw one of them fly further than thirty o r forty yards a t a tim e ; and on such occasions their movements
were so sluggish as to give opportunities o f easily shooting them ; for they generally rise within a few yards
of you and fly off very slowly in a direct course. Their cries at such times greatly resemble those o f the
Night and Yellow-crowned Herons. My friends Dr. Bachman and Mr. Nuttall have both heard the love-
notes o f this bird. The former says, in a letter to me, ‘ their hoarse croakings, as if their throats were
filled with water, were heard on every s id e ;’ and the latter states that ‘ instead of the bump or boomp of
the true Bittern their call is something like the uncouth syllables pump-au-gah, but uttered in the same low
bellowing tone.’ An egg presented by Dr. Brown, of Boston, measures two inches in length, by one inch
and a half, and is o f a broadly oval shape, rather pointed a t the smaller end, and o f a uniform dull
olivaceous tin tla^ m
It is said to extend as far northward as the shores of Hudson’s Bay, in summer, and, according to Dr.
Richardson, “ is a common bird in the marshes and thickets o f the interior o f the fur-countries up to the
fifty-eighth parallel. Its loud booming, exactly resembling th at of the common Bittern o f Europe, may be
heard every summer evening, and also frequently in the day. When disturbed, it utters a hollow croaking
cry. I t lays, according to Mr. Hutchins, four eggs of a cinereous-green colour.” They breed about the
beginning o f June, making their nest in swamps; and the young are said to be a t first black. Their
food is said to consist chiefly of fishes and aquatic reptiles; and their flesh, when in good condition, is by
many persons considered excellent.
The American Bittern is readily distinguished from its European relative by its great inferiority of size,
by the upper surface being darker and much more minutely freckled, and by the feathers o f the neck and
breast having each a broad stripe o f dark rusty red down the centre.
The figure is about three fourths of the natural size.