ARDETTA MINUTA.
Little Bittern.
Ardea minuta, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 240.
danubialis, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 637.
Botaurus minutus, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 559.
------------pusillus, Brehm, Yög. Deutschl., p. 598.
Ardeola minuta, Bonap. Geog. and Comp. List of Birds of Eur. and N. Amer., p. 48.
Cancrophagus minutus, Kaup, Natürl. Syst., p. 42.
Butor minutus, 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 may have
come to England than have been detected ; how'ever this may be, it has been killed in sufficient numbers,
both in this country and in Ireland, to show that it is not one of the rarest of our British birds. Most
o f these have been obtained in the spring, just prior to the breeding-season, a period of the year when
birds become restless and are prompted to wander, and probably have been individuals which, during
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 or 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 flnviatile 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 which 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:— “ Early in
May 1865, a pair o f Little Bitterns were seen in the neighbourhood o f Plymouth, one o f which was caught by
some boys, who said it was entangled in a bramble bush by the side o f a stream. I t was a male in fine
plumage; its compauion flew away.” In another note Mr. Gatcombe says, “ it may interest you to know that
a Little Bittern was obtained at the fishing-village of Beer, near Seaton, on the coast o f Devon, on the
20th of April, 1869. I t was seen by some fishermen to alight in a boat lying on the beach, and was
taken out o f it in 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
E . H. Rodd, Esq., of Penzance:— “ June 14, 1866. I saw yesterday a very beautiful specimen o f a male
Little Bittern in the highest development o f plumage. I t was killed at the large pool a t Trescoe, one of
the Scilly Islan d s; its weight was exactly three ounces, and its ruff quite as large in proportion to the
bird as that of the Bittern.” “ April 12, 1867. Ah adult male Little Bittern, in fine plumage, like the
one from Mr. Smith’s grounds in Scilly, was brought to me yesterday. It was killed not far from St.
Michael’s M o u n t; like the former it weighed three ounces.”
Mr. T. White, Taxidermist, of Bath Road, Cheltenham, wrote November 20, 1867:— “ I have a Little
Bittern, killed last winter within a mile of this town, at a pond full of dead rushes &c. There were
three more, but I could not succeed in killing either o f 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 o f the birds o f th at country,
Mr. Jerd o n thinks it likely th at he has mistaken the Ardetta sinensis for our species.
Speaking o f the bird in Norfolk, Mr. Stevenson says:— “ No doubt, from lime immemorial, the Little
Bittern lias occasionally sought shelter in the luxuriant herbage o f the “ B ro a d ’’-district, nor is it a t all
improbable th at it may even have remained with us a t times and bred, having been found in pairs during
the summer months, and, in one instance, a perfect egg was taken from a female killed near Lowestoft.
Its skulking habits, however, and the almost impenetrable nature of the swamps it frequents, render its
detection, except by the merest accident, extremely improbable.”
The situations described by Mr. Stevenson are precisely those which the bird frequents in every country
in which it is found. During the spring it frequently perches on tre e s ; and Selby says that its usual