Part 56

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The bittern, formerly a common bird, is hardly entitled to a place in this book, since it has long been extirpated as a breeding species. It is, however, a noteworthy fact that, whereas other species that have been driven out, such as the great bustard, spoonbill, avocet, black tern, and several more, appear now as only rare occasional visitors in our country, the bittern comes back to us annually, as if ever seeking to recover its lost footing in our island. And that he would recover it, and breed again in suitable places as in former times, is not to be doubted, if only the human inhabitants would allow it; but, unhappily, this bird, like the ruff, hoopoe, and kingfisher, when stuffed and in a glass case, is looked upon as an attractive ornament by persons of a low order of intelligence and vulgar tastes.

The bittern is a bird of singular appearance. On the wing he resembles the heron, but it is a rare thing to see him abroad in the daytime. He is strictly nocturnal in habits, and passes the daylight hours concealed in thick reed-beds in extensive marshes. His buff and yellow and chestnut colour, mottled and barred and pencilled with black and brown, gives him a strange tigrine or cat-like appearance; it is a colouring well suited to his surroundings, where yellow and brown dead vegetation is mixed with the green, and the stems and loose leaves of the reeds throw numberless spots and bars of shade beneath. Secure in its imitative colouring, the bittern remains motionless in its place until almost trodden upon. Its active life begins in the evening, when it leaves its hiding-place to prey on fishes, eels, frogs, voles, small birds, and insects, and every living thing it finds and is able to conquer with a blow of its sharp, powerful bill.

When flying he utters a harsh, powerful scream, and he has, besides, a strange vocal performance, called ‘booming’--a sound that resembles the bellowing of a bull. Formerly, when the bittern was a common bird in England, this extraordinary evening performance was the subject of some superstitious notions, and it was commonly believed that, to produce so great a volume of sound, the bird, when screaming, thrust its beak and head into the water. Thus, in Thomson’s ‘Seasons’ we read:--

The bittern knows his time, with, bill submerged, To shake the sounding marsh.

In March or April the nest is made on the ground, among the thick reeds, and is formed of weeds, sticks, and rushes. The eggs are four in number, of an olive-brown colour, sometimes with a greenish shade.

Besides the two species described there are no fewer than eight herons in our list of British birds, most of these being very rare stragglers to our shores:--

Purple heron (Ardea purpurea) is a straggler from the continent of Europe; it breeds in Holland.

Great white heron (Ardea alba).--Eight examples of this species, a straggler from South-eastern Europe, have been obtained in this country.

Little egret (Ardea gazetta).--A waif from Southern Europe; it also inhabits Africa, Asia, and Australia.

Buff-backed heron (Ardea bubulcus).--Inhabits Southern Europe; three examples have been obtained.

Squacco heron (Ardea ralloïdes).--From Southern Europe; occasionally seen on migration in England.

Little bittern (Ardetta minuta).--This bittern almost deserves to rank as a British species, as it is of somewhat frequent occurrence, and has been known to breed in the Broads of Norfolk, and in other localities in Great Britain. It is a summer visitor to most countries in Europe.

Night heron (Nycticorax griseus).--This heron has a range almost as extensive as that of the barn-owl, and breeds in many localities throughout the continent of Europe. The question as to whether or not it has ever bred in England has not been settled; but it is now an almost annual spring and autumn visitor to our country, and it is hardly to be doubted that it would breed with us if unmolested, or, in other words, allowed to live.

American bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus).--A few examples of this North American bittern have been obtained in this country.

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Two other families in the present order (Herodiones) are represented by occasional visitors in the list of British birds--two storks (Ciconiidæ), and a spoonbill, and an ibis (Platalaidæ):--

White stork (Ciconia alba).--Common in Holland, and an occasional visitor to the east coast of England.

Black stork (Ciconia nigra).--A rare straggler from continental Europe.

Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia).--Now an occasional straggler to Great Britain; formerly a regular breeder in heronries in several localities in England.

Glossy ibis (Plegadis falcinellus).--A very rare straggler from Southern Europe.

Grey Lag Goose.

Anser cinereus.

Head, neck, and upper parts greyish brown; lower breast and abdomen dull white with a few black spots; bluish grey rump and wing-coverts; bill flesh-coloured, with a white nail at the tip; legs and feet flesh-coloured. Length, thirty-five inches.

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Eight species of geese are counted among British birds; two of these--the snow-goose (Chen albatus) and the red-breasted goose (Bernicla ruficollis)--may be dismissed at once as rare stragglers to the British Islands. The other six are all winter visitors to our coasts, and are divisible into two natural groups--the grey geese (counting four species), all large birds, brownish grey in colour, and feeders on land; and the black, or dark-coloured geese (two species), very dark in colour, very much smaller in size, and feeders on the tidal flats.

The grey lag is the largest species in the first group, and the only goose that breeds within the limits of the United Kingdom. It was formerly a common summer resident, and bred in the eastern counties of England; it is now confined as a breeding species to a few localities in Scotland and the Hebrides, and in all these last refuges it is said to be rapidly diminishing. That it will diminish still further, until the vanishing-point is reached, hardly admits of a doubt. As a winter migrant from northern Europe it will long continue to visit our coasts, and as a domestic bird we shall have it always with us; for the grey lag is supposed to be the species from which our familiar bird has descended.

The grey lag goose pairs for life, and is gregarious, but is said not to associate with geese of other species. It feeds on grass and young shoots, and in the autumn on grain, and spends nearly the whole day in feeding, and resorts at dark to some open level space to roost, where it is almost impossible to approach within gunshot of the flock, owing to its watchfulness. The grey lag makes a large nest of reeds and grass, lined with moss, and lays six eggs, sometimes a larger number. During incubation the gander keeps guard over his mate, and afterwards assists her in rearing the young. These are led back to the nest every evening by the goose, and sleep under her wing. The male begins to moult a month earlier than the female, and when the time comes he leaves her in sole charge of the young, and withdraws to some hiding-place, or spends the daylight hours on the water, coming to the land in the evening to feed. The goose begins her moult after the young are able to take care of themselves.