F ormerly, as Mr. Gould'observes, when large portions
óf the British islands were uncultivated, and extensivÓ
marshes and waste land afforded the Bittern abundance of
retreats congenial to its habits, it was plentifully distributed
over the country ; but as cultivation has extended,^ and the
marshes have been drained, its numbers have gradually decreased,
and although not absolutely a rare bird, its presence
is not always to be reckoned upon, for in one year it may
be tolerably common, and then for several-succeeding seasons
scarcely to be procured at all.
In proof of the correctness of these remarks, Mr. Selby'
observes that at the present day the capture-óf a Bitteiai
in many parts of England; a subject of great interest in
the winter of 1830-31». he was credibly informed that 'no.lesS
than ten-were exposed dor sale in one morning/at Bath. Mr.
Allis of York sent me word some time ago that -in-the wintel*
of 1837; a «bird-preserver in that city had a dozen Bitterns
through his hands in a comparatively short space.of time-;
and Mr. Heysham of Carlisle-has recorded-that during the
month of December 1831, and those of January find February
1832, no less than eight specimens^of the Bittern were
killed in that part of Cumberland, which was the more re-'
markable, as only a single specimen had been met with ip the
same district for the ten or twelve years previous.
I am able to refer to only three recent-records of the
breeding of the Bittern in this country. Mr. Eyton, in his
Fauna of Shropshire, says, a hatch of these birds Caine off at
Cosford Pool, nearNufnal, in 1836, and during the same
summer, and in thé same county, a pair of Bitterns bred at
Tonglake, Albrighton, in a reedy pond of half an acre, surrounded
by bushes, about half a mile. from the Holyhead
road; two young birds about s half grown, were caught by a
farmer’s boy. . The authors of the catalogue of Norfolk and
Suffolk. Birds, published in the fifteenth volume of the
Transactions o f the Linnean Society, mention, that they
had^pnee obtained an'egg- o f tins'bird in the marshes: of
N ö r tó ..
|$ ^ b e i; Bitt-eru^iconstahtly feeding at night, is therefore
Seldom seen- on wing, in the fefey,» but remains, with head
©feet,-in thick be<Si pfcreëds;/*or' Conceals- itself among flags,
rushed b ro th e r rank aquatic .vegefeatipm which afford it a
solitary a n e f . f r o m such:.situations it is with
difficulty made tpatake flight, -and when atr;length obliged to
get'on wing, t ^ p a c e i s dull and.flagging;»and seldom sustained,.
to-, any^gréat ;tls|ance^ .M.'WgjEot says, that in
F&ipe if is occasionally fbUnd.jiflij^oód^ ^Il1' the-spring, and
during the breedingsseason, the Bittern makes, {a loud boom-
i^P@r fbellowing-móisef whon<^ probably,- the, generic term
Bataurus vrksu selectedi for ifr^ but < whp$#froused at other
Ömi©4'th^*bird makes-a sharp*, harsh cry on rising, n#t unliké
that of a Wild .Specimens .are not- unfrequently.shot
fromfs^me o f thia numerousdfecM o f,reeds growing by the
side's , ©fr:the Thames', on thrChores1 of Kent and; Jfeiex.
Whèm©h#ke ground wounded,-the Bittern-will strike at dog
OÏ man r and sompijepe is , necessary when about to handle
one, t o r o i d a hard blow from the point of its sharp beak*
] f a dog advances-upon one that not. entirely disabled, the
3$rd throws itself Om its back, like a Hawk, and fights,; with
its claws* as' well as with its beak. Mr. Maxwell* r-in his
Wilde Sports of the West of. Ireland, describing the sport
enjoyed bjfra friend, and himself-while shooting o v p -a fei£
in- Ireland, says,- .“ Out of seventy, head, we reckoned one
Woodcock, and a brace o l old Grouse that we found among
thé-heathy banks bordering the fen. We shot six couple of
Teal ; and, with one exception,, the remainder of the count
wéro Snipes;^ of which at least a fourth were jacks. In the
most impassable seetiöii of the morass,mid York pointed with
more than customary steadiness;. and, it might be .fancy,