Page:Natural History, Birds.djvu/276

Rh Bittour, was probably derived from its voice, which, uttered as the bird rises spirally to a vast height in the dusk of evening, is thought to resemble the deep-toned bellowing of a bull. The names which are given to the species, in some of the rural districts of England, such as Bull of the bog, Mire-drum, &c., refer to this booming sound.

The Bittern is a bird of much beauty; the ground-colour of its plumage is bright buff, marked with innumerable streaks, freckles, and crescents of black; the crown is black, with green and purple glosses. The plumage of the neck can be thrown forward, and made to assume the appearance of a thick ruff. The legs and feet are grass-green.

In former years the Bittern was common throughout Great Britain, but owing to the increase of cultivation, the reclaiming of waste-lands, and the drainage of marshes, it has gradually become less frequently met with, and may now be classed among the rare British birds. Yet, from circumstances unexplained, it is even now, in some years, comparatively numerous in favourable localities, where, perhaps, for several seasons before and after, not a specimen is to be seen. Its occurrence is therefore considered as an event of sufficient interest to be recorded. The winters of 1830-31, 1831-32, and 1837-38, were remarkable for the number of specimens that were procured. Instances of the breeding of this species are rare in England.

On the continent of Europe, however, the Bittern appears much more common; nor is it confined to this quarter of the world; for specimens,