ARDETTA MINUTA.
Little Bittern.
Ardea minuta, Linn;. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 240.
danubialis, Gmcl. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 637.
Botaurus mirntus, Boie. Isis, 1822, p. 559.
------------pmilhts, Brehm, Yog. Deutschl,, p. 598.
Ardeola minuta, Bonap. Geog. and Comp. List of Birds of Eur. and N. Am er., p. 48.
Cancrophagus mmutus, Kaup, Natiirl. Syst., p. 42.
Butor minutu», Swains. Class, of Birds, vol. ii. p. 354.
T h e Little Bittern, being a very shy and recluse bird, it is probable that many more examples m a y have
come to England than have been detected ; however this may be, it has been killed in sufficient number«,
both in this country and in Ireland, to show that it is not one of the rarest of our British birds. Mom
o f these have been obtained in the spring, ju st prior to the breeding-season, a period o f the year when
birds become restless and are prompted to wander, and probably have been individuals which, duriug
their passage from south to north, have been driven out o f their course in a westerly direction, when,
as a natural consequence; they would strike the British shores, and gladly seek rest by alighting thereon.
I f under these circumstances two o r more o f opposite sexes were to meet, there is no reason why they
should not breed and spend the summer among our marshes and fluviatile districts, as the Great Bittern
used to d o ; as yet, however, I believe neither eggs nor very young birds have been procured. That at
least some o f the specimens winch have been obtained were birds which had been driven out o f their
intended course is evident from the following notes, communicated to me by Mr. Gatcombe:—“ E arly in
May 18(55, a pair o f Little Bitterns were seen in the neighbourhood o f Plymouth, one o f which was caught bv
some boys, who said it was entangled in a bramble bush by the side o f a stream. It was a male in fine
plumage; its companion flew away.” In another note Mr. Gatcombe says, “ it may interest you to knew that
a Little Bittern was obtained a t the fishing-viliage of Beer, near Seaton, on the coast o f Devon, on the
20th o f April, 1869. I t was seen by some fishermen to alight in a boat lving on the beach, and wus
taken out o f it iu a most exhausted sta te ; and I know o f several other examples which have been
picked up in the same state on our coast.”
Besides the above, instances are on record o f the occurrence of the Little Bittern in Somersetshire,
Herefordshire, Shropshire, South Wales, Dorsetshire, Hampshire, Middlesex, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire,
Yorkshire, Northumberland, and, lastly, in Cornwall, as detailed in the following notes from my friend
K. H Bodd, Esq., o f Penzance:— “ Ju n e 14, 1866. I saw yesterday a very beautiful specimen o f a male
Little JK&fra in the highest development o f plumage. I t was killed at the large pool a t Trescoe, one of
the Scilly Island* ite weight was exactly three ounces, and its ruff quite as large in proportion to the
bird as that of the B itte rn '' “ April 12, 1867. An adult male Little Bittern, in fine plumage, like the
one from Mr. Smith's grounds in Nrilly, was brought to me yesterday. I t was killed not far from St.
Michael's Mount ; like the former it weighed three ounces.”
Mr. T. White, Taxidermist, o f Bath lioad. Cheltenham, wrote November 20, 1 867:—“ I have a Little
Bittern, killed last winter within a inile o f this town, at a pond full of dead rushes &c. There were
three more, but I could not succeed in killing either oí th em ; they go off in the daytime, but come back
a t dusk.”
Apart from the British Islands the Little Bittern ranges in summer over all the central and southern
parts o f Europe, and in winter is probably as extensively spread over Africa. Its occurrence in India
is very doubtful; for although Dr. Leith Adams includes it in his list ofdÉK birds of that country,
Mr. Jerd o n thinks it likely that he has mistaken the Ardetta ****"#*& for our ( f llte s .
Speaking o f the bird in Norfolk, Mr. Stevenson s a y s—" No doubt, from time immemorial, the Little
Bittern has occasionally sought shelter in the luxuriant of the “ Broad ’’-district, nor is it at «ill
improbable th at it may even have remained with os at tunes and bred, having been found in jiair* during
the summer months, and, in one instance, a perfect egg was taken from a female killed near I*
Its skulking habits, however, and the almost impenetrable nature of the swamps it frequents, reader a»
detection, except by the merest accident, extremely improbable.”
The situations described by Mr. Stevenson are precisely those which the bird frequent* k)
in which it is found. During the spring i t . frequently perches on tre e s : and -Selby >■. t \*m it* mwM