(_Botaurus stellaris_)
Before drainage and cultivation had driven away so many of the
marsh-haunting birds, the boom of the bittern was a familiar sound to
the dwellers in the fens of Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, and this
handsome bird regularly nested not only in those districts, but in the
Norfolk Broads, as well as in many other counties possessing situations
suitable to its habits. Indeed nests were taken now and then up to the
middle of last century, and even later; but at the present day the
bittern is nothing more than a casual visitor to the British Islands,
in fact, so rare have its visits become, that they are generally
considered worthy of special record.
A near relative of the heron, the bittern does not expose itself
in the open after the fashion of that species, but skulks amid the
shelter of reeds and flags, where its presence is made known only by
the ordinary raven-like croak, or the loud booming of the male in the
breeding-season. From this habit the bittern derives its German name of
_rohrdommel_; and with such surroundings its mottled plumage of light
and dark brown mingled with black is designed to harmonise, as is also
in all probability the greenish hue of its long, spear-like beak, so
admirably adapted to seize and hold the unwary fish or frog that may
come within striking distance.
As this resemblance between the plumage of the bittern and its
inanimate surroundings is sufficiently apparent from the accompanying
Plate, it will be unnecessary to attempt any description of its
colouring. It is, however, important to mention that the bird
appears to be in the habit of increasing the protective power of its
mottled livery, by assuming, probably under the influence of alarm,
a statuesque position amid the reeds, with the body held as erect as
possible, the neck stretched to its fullest extent, and the head and
beak pointing skywards. In this posture it is stated, by those who have
had the good fortune to see it, to be almost invisible amid the upright
brown stems of reeds and bulrushes.
The range of the bittern is very extensive, including the whole
of temperate Europe, northern Africa, and the greater portion of
Asia lying between the Himalaya and the Arctic Circle, as well as
north-western India and Burma. In South Africa its place is taken by
another species, a third kind inhabits Australia, New Caledonia, and
New Zealand, while a fourth is a native of North and Central America,
and a fifth is indigenous to tropical South America. The distribution
of the group is thus almost cosmopolitan, if we except most of the
tropical zone of the Old World; and all the five species are closely
related.
[Illustration]
In Europe at the present day bitterns are still common in Spain,
Holland, many parts of France and Germany, and the swamps of the
Danube and Volga. It should be added that in Africa, India, and Burma
the species occurs only in winter, being to some extent migratory in
its habits.
These shy birds associate in pairs, but in migration time collect in
parties previous to setting out on their travels. The nest, which is
built of reeds and flags, and lined with grass, is well concealed among
the brake in which the pair have taken up their residence, and may be
a floating structure. The eggs, which are from three to five in number
and greenish blue in colour, are incubated solely by the hen, who is
supplied with food by her mate. The chicks remain in the nest until
fully fledged, and display extraordinary cleverness in making their way
among the reeds.
Little comes amiss to the bittern in the way of food, so long as it is
of an animal nature; and its appetite is so great, that it is on the
hunt for prey from sunrise till sunset. Water-rats, field-mice, birds
of all kinds, fish, especially those inhabiting muddy water, snakes,
lizards, leeches, worms, and insects and their larvæ are alike devoured
by these voracious birds.
The usual cry of the bittern is, as already mentioned, a hoarse,
raven-like croak; and it is only during the breeding-season that
the male utters the resounding boom, which has been compared to the
bellowing of a bull, and on a still night may be heard at a distance
of a mile or more. How this wonderful sound is produced is not yet
definitely known.
A wounded bittern is most dangerous to approach, as it will strike with
unerring aim at the eye of the gunner who approaches to seize it; and
the formidable beak is likewise employed, and generally with success,
to repel the attack of any fox bold enough to approach its owner.
It should be added that during the hot summer of 1911 a pair of
bitterns bred in the old Norfolk haunts of the species.