130 A MOORLAND SANCTUARY 



gorge. With her he journeyed through the gloom 

 to the estuary, and, again, past villages and 

 farms by the river. As the sun rose, the bittern 

 and his mate circled down, and, alighting on the 

 marsh, rested among the rushes near a broad and 

 shallow channel through which the waters of the 

 brook passed till they were lost among the 

 quaking peat-beds in the hollows of the moor. 

 Fatigued by buffeting against the strong north 

 wind, the birds remained in close hiding during 

 the entire day and the greater part of the 

 following night. 



For many years the conditions of migration 

 in the spring had not been more unfavourable ; 

 the storm over the marsh by the coast, though 

 apparently not more severe than an ordinary 

 springtide gale, marked the fringe of a terrific 

 cyclone that had swept over Europe and the 

 Atlantic, and driven vast numbers of birds to 

 destruction out at sea. The hen bittern, having 

 wintered in the distant south, was utterly 

 exhausted by the journey, and during the first 

 week after her arrival seldom wandered beyond 

 the marsh ; but the cock soon recovered from 

 his weariness, and at night flew restlessly from 

 place to place, as if to make himself familiar with 

 forgotten scenes, and so be better enabled to 

 guard against danger. 



Then came the brief season of courtship and 



