distant, and had previously been seen near the same place.
A third was also killed in the same neighbourhood during
that summer.”
Early in September, 1839, the late Mr. Heysham sent
the Author word that about two months previous to the
date of his letter a beautiful pair of adult Little Bitterns
were shot at or near South Walsham, where it was supposed
they had a nest; and Mr. Stevenson states that in one
instance a perfect egg was taken from a female shot, near
Lowestoft. In a foot-note to a recent edition (1879) of
Lubbock’s ‘ Fauna of Norfolk ’ (p. 90), Mr. Thomas South-
well says that Mr. Rising, of Horsey, assured him that about
the year 1822-3 a nest of the Little Bittern was found at
Catfield, close to the parsonage, and Mr. Rising saw the eggs
in the possession of the Rev. J. Layton.
In the summer of 1826 a young specimen of the Little
Bittern was shot on the banks of the Thames, near Windsor;
and it was believed to have been bred there, from the
situation being favourable, and the circumstance of a second
bird in the same state of plumage being seen about the
same spot for several days at that time.
So many examples of the Little Bittern have now been
taken in various parts of this country, that only a brief
enumeration will be necessary. Montagu mentions that one
was shot from the stump of a tree on the bank of the Avon,
near Bath; the late H. E. Strickland sent the Author notice
of one that was shot in the spring of 1838, at Shobden
Court, in Herefordshire; this species has also been killed
in Shropshire, South Wales, Cornwall, Devonshire, Somersetshire,
Dorsetshire, Hampshire, Sussex, Kent, Oxfordshire,
and Berkshire; a specimen in the Author’s collection was
killed on Uxbridge Moor, and another was shot at Enfield
in Middlesex ; and it has occurred in Essex. In Norfolk
about fifteen have been obtained : most of them on Hickling
and South Walsham ‘ broads ’; and several in Suffolk. The
figure at the head of this subject was drawn from a very flue
specimen in the collection of the late Dr. Thackeray, at
King’s College, Cambridge ; several have been taken in
Lincolnshire ; thirteen in Yorkshire ; one at the mouth of
the Tyne : and from another killed in Northumberland and
belonging to the late Sir M. W. Ridley, Bart., Bewick’s
figure of the adult Little Bittern Avas taken. Although
rarer on the western side of our island, Lancashire and
other counties can sIioav records, and there is probably not
a county in England in which it has not been observed.
In Scotland the occurrences of the Little Bittern have
been few, and at long intervals ; but it has been knoAvn to
straggle to the Orkneys, and once to Shetland. To Ireland
it was considered by Thompson to be a very rare visitant,
but Sir R. Payne-Gallwey says that it is not very unfrequent;
and there are records of its occurrence in various parts of the
island.
The Little Bittern has been knoAvn to straggle to Iceland,
the Faeroes, Norway, and Sweden; and it has been obtained
on several occasions in Denmark, but its usual migrations
do not extend beyond the Baltic. South of that line
it is found in summer throughout Europe Avlierever the
localities are suited to its habits; but even from Spain,
Italy, and other southern countries, it takes its departure in
autumn, returning in April. WestAvard its range extends
to Madeira and the Azores. In Asia our Little Bittern is
found from the Caspian to Cashmere—where it breeds—
Nepal, and the north-west of India; but to the eastAvard it
is replaced by an allied species, Ardetta sinensis, in which
the back is broAvn instead of black. Our bird is distributed
over the greater part of North Africa, and migrates in some
numbers as far south as the Transvaal, but the representative
species of South Africa is A. podiceps. In America
there is a still smaller species, A. exilis.
The Little Bittern inhabits marshes by the sides of rivers,
plantations of osiers, and other moist situations in which
reeds and aquatic herbage grow luxuriantly; and in these it
skulks during the greater part of the day, becoming more
lively towards the evening. Its food is the fry of fish, frogs,
and other small reptiles, mollusks, and insects. The note
of the male is described by the Rev. T. Frere as “ resem