194 BIRD WORLD. 



is near and will protect her, he makes sounds which 

 resemble the syllables tuik-a-chunk, made way down in 

 one's throat, and these sounds he utters so loud that 

 they can be easily heard half a mile away. 



It seems to be a considerable undertaking for the 

 Bittern to say all this. He first seems to fill his 

 breast with air, and then to force it out w^ith violent 

 convulsions. 



The notes sound as if they came through water, 

 and in the old days, before people learned to watch 

 closely, it was commonly believed that the Bittern 

 put his bill into a hollow reed, or that he stuck his 

 bill into the mud and w^ater. 



The woodpeckers express their feelings in a very 

 characteristic way. The bill which we have seen 

 them use for a chisel now becomes a drumstick, and 

 beats on some dry limb a tattoo which can be heard 

 far through the forest. The Flicker, who, you remem- 

 ber, has become more civilized than many of his 

 family, has a fancy for a finer kind of a drum; he 

 sometimes beats a tin roof or tin pan, often returning 

 to the same spot day after day. 



All these strange sounds made by the woodpeckers 

 and the Bittern express to their mates the same feel- 

 ings which the Skylark puts into beautiful song. 



