Subfamily
Botaurinae (Bitterns)
Botaurus lentiginosus. Photo: (c) Mike Mosser, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
Bitterns are birds belonging to the subfamily Botaurinae of the heron family Ardeidae. Bitterns tend to be shorter-necked and more secretive than other members of the family. They were called hæferblæte in Old English; the word “bittern” came to English from Old French butor, itself from Gallo-Roman butitaurus, a compound of Latin būtiō and taurus.
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