BITTERN
—is a bird of similar formation to the heron, but of much smaller size, and more beautifully variegated in its plumage. They are principally found in sedgey moors, where they breed, particularly within a few miles of the sea-coast, not being very common in the centrical parts of the kingdom. If brought down by the gun with only a broken wing, they display great courage in opposing their destroyer; possessing such determined power, and quick exertion of both talons and beak, they cannot be with safety secured till deprived of life. From their scarcity, they are esteemed a rarity at the tables of the great, where one is received as a handsome present; a brace being seldom seen together, either dead or alive.