AMERICAN BITTERN. 61 



During the day, the Night Hen, as it is here called, re- 

 mains hid in the reeds and sedge, and rarely comes out till 

 the approach of night. When disturbed in its retreat, it 

 flies off with a hollow 'kwa, or hoivk, kotvk, and sometimes 

 gives a loud squeak of alarm ; at this time, as it flies heavily, 

 and at no great height, it is easily shot down ; they are also 

 sometimes obtained by laying wait for them as they sally 

 out in the evening, towards the salt marshes, in a par- 

 ticular direction, in quest of their usual supply of food. 



In the breeding season, and throughout a great part of 

 the summer, we often hear the loud booming note of this 

 bird from the marshes of Fresh Pond, morning and evening, 

 and sometimes even during the day. Instead of the bump, 

 or hoomp, however, of the true Bittern, their call is something 

 like the uncouth syllables of ' pump-au-gdh , but uttered in 

 the same low, bellowing tone. 



The cry of the European Bittern, so similar to that of 

 our own species, is thus elegantly described by Gold- 

 smith, in his Animated Nature. '* Those who have walked 

 in a summer's evening by the sedgy sides of unfrequented 

 rivers, must remember a variety of notes from different 

 water fowl ; the loud scream of the wild goose, the croak- 

 ing of the mallard, the whining of the lapwing, and the 

 tremulous neighing of the jack-snipe. But of all these 

 sounds, there is none so dismally hollow as the booming of 

 the Bittern. It is impossible for words to give those who 

 have not heard this evening call, an adequate idea of its 

 solemnity. It is like the interrupted bellowing of a bull, 

 but hollower and louder, and is heard at a mile's distance, 

 as if issuing from some formidable being that resided at the 

 bottom of the waters. This is the Bittern, whose wind- 

 pipe is fitted to produce the sound for which it is remarka- 

 ble; the lower part of it, dividing into the lungs, being 

 supplied with a thin loose membrane, that can be filled with 

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