A r d e t t a m in u ta (Linnaius*).
THE LITTLE BITTERN.
Botaurus minutus.
Ardetta, G. R. Gray f .—Beak longer than the head, slender, pointed, gapeline
straight; nostrils, basal, linear, longitudinal ; space in front of the eye
bare. Legs lather short ; the tibia feathered nearly to the joint ; tarsus anteriorly
scutellate ; toes moderately long, slender, the middle toe shorter than the
tarsus, and its claw pectinated on the inner edge. Wing broad, rather rounded;
the second quill-feather barely longer than the first, and a little longer than the
third. Tail short and rounded, consisting of ten soft feathers.
I h e L it t l e B it t e r n is the smallest British example of
the family to which it belongs. It will be perceived that it
differs from the true Herons in having little bare space above
the tarsal joint, and its toes are also much longer. It appears
Ardea minuty, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 240 (1766).
t List of Genera of Birds, Appendix, p. 13 (1842).
to occupy a somewhat intermediate position between the
Herons and the Bitterns, but its affinities are closer to the
latter, inasmuch as the tail consists of only ten soft feathers,
and it has only two pairs of powder-down tracts ; whereas
the true Herons have three pairs of the latter, and twelve
tail-feathers. For it, and for four or five allied species,
the genus Ardetta has been instituted; and although the
structural distinctions between it and the true Bitterns may
not appear very marked, yet the colour of the eggs of all
the Little Bitterns is quite different from that in which
prevails the genus Botaurus, and, so far as is known at
present, the adult males of the Little Bittern group have
a plumage distinct from that of the females and young.
In this country the Little Bittern may be considered
rather as a summer visitor, most of the recorded examples
having been obtained between spring and autumn. The
Rev. Richard Lubbock, however, sent the Author word that
the specimen mentioned by Mr. Paget, in his Sketch of the
Natural History of Yarmouth, page 7, as in the collection
of Mrs. J. Baker, was in immature plumage, and having
been caught by a water-dog at Hickling, near Ludlam,
during the extreme frost of 1822-3, was given by himself to
Mrs. Baker’s brother, the late Mr. Girdlestone. Messrs.
Sheppard and Whitear also speak of one killed in the
winter of 1819 near Burlingham; Mr. W. E. Clarke, out of
thirteen occurrences in Yorkshire, gives winter dates for
two; and there are other instances of a similar nature.
Some birds, if not prevented, would probably have bred
in this country. Montagu, in his Supplement, says, “ A
female of this rare species was shot contiguous to the river
Credy, in Devonshire, in the month of May, 1808. It was
only wounded in the wing, and was kept alive for two days;
and it was observed to sit with its neck contracted like the
Common Heron, but with the bill pointing upwards. Upon
dissection, about forty eggs were counted in the ovaries,
some of which were so considerably enlarged as to induce
an opinion that a brood would have been produced in this
country, especially as a male was afterwards shot not very
VOL. iv. D D