3(S WII.D lAl'K IN CHINA. 



nicfely adds to the orchestral effect. Nature evidently meant 

 the hittern to play the hig drum. At any rate we hear him 

 "hooming from his sedge shallow" as though he, at least, 

 helieves that his good lady liUed to listen. 



Bitterns nest on the ground, and lay four eggs so tinted 

 that the}-, too, are as little likely to be seen as their parent. 

 Except when migrating and well under way the bitterns are 

 slow and awkward flyers, flapping clumsilx' along with neck 

 outstretched and legs dangling, as though that was the last 

 thing they really enjoyed : and so indeed it would seem, for 

 they do not rise until forced, trusting, as a quail or a bamboo 

 partridge will do, to protective covering for eft'ective conceal- 

 ment. Generall}' too, their confidence is well-founded, for 

 the number of bitterns put up is as a rule remarkably small. 



*-'-^0^»9a<!^~ 



