BOTAURUS.
10 tail feathers ; bill pointed, serrated near tip; more nocturnal than Herons, shy, skulking amongst reeds; often protect themselves from observation by clinging vertically to a reed•stenm.
Botaurus stellaris stellaris (L.). BITTERN. Fr. Grand Butor ; Ger. Rohrdommel ; Ital. Tarabuso ; Szued. Rardrom.
j 9 Above tawny, marked, freckled, and streaked with dark brown or chestnut ; quills brown, barred chestnut ; beneath dark buff, streaked with reddish brown. Bill greenish yellow, upper ridge brown. Legs and feet pale green, back of tarsus and soles yellow. Facial skin green. Iris yellow. Wing j 320-350, 300-326. Tarsus 96-102 (H.). Bill 65-75.
Breeds.—England (Norfolk) ; Continental Europe from S. Sweden (rare), Finland (very rare), and N. Russia about south to Mediterranean ; N.W. Africa, and through temperate Asia to Japan. Migrates ; occasional in winter in Britain, Greece, Macedonia. Winters in Egypt, and Africa to Abyssinia, also India and China.
Botaurus lentiginosus (Montagu). Distinguished from "stellaris" by its uniform slaty grey primaries. Wing j 270-305, 9 245-27o. Tarsus 86-97. Bill 6S-8o (W.).
An American species ; has occurred about forty times in Britain, also Iceland, Channel Islands, Canaries, and Azores.