. A dictionary of birds . )on(lingly-adapted coloration, than on strictly structuralgrounds, though some differences of proportion are obserA^able. It was formerly an abundant bird in many parts of Britain ; but,since the reclamation of the bogs and fens it used to inhabit, it isbecome only an irregular visitant, — though not a Avinter passes. BITTEEX. without its appearing in some numbers, when its uncommon asjDect,its large size, and beautifully - pencilled plumage cause it to beregarded as a great prize by the lucky gun-bearer to whom it fallsa victim. Its value as a delicacy for the table,
. A dictionary of birds . )on(lingly-adapted coloration, than on strictly structuralgrounds, though some differences of proportion are obserA^able. It was formerly an abundant bird in many parts of Britain ; but,since the reclamation of the bogs and fens it used to inhabit, it isbecome only an irregular visitant, — though not a Avinter passes. BITTEEX. without its appearing in some numbers, when its uncommon asjDect,its large size, and beautifully - pencilled plumage cause it to beregarded as a great prize by the lucky gun-bearer to whom it fallsa victim. Its value as a delicacy for the table, once so highlyesteemed, has long vanished. The old fable of this bird insertingits beak into a reed or plunging it into the ground, and so causingthe booming sound Avith which its name will be always associated,is also exploded, and nowadays indeed so few people in Britainhave ever heard its loud and aAvful voice, Avhich seems to beuttered only in the breeding-season, and is therefore unknown in a 42 BLACKBIRD—BLACKCAP country where it no longer breeds,^ that incredulity as to its boom-ing at all has in some quarters succeeded the old belief in this asin other reputed peculiarities of the species. The Bittern is foundfrom Ireland to Japan, in India, and throughout the ■whole ofAfrica—suitable localities being, of course, underst
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Keywords: ., bookauthorlyde, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds
