AMERICAN BITTERN. 421 



shooting them ; for they generally rise within a few yards of 

 you, and fly off very slowly in a direct course. Their cries 

 at such times greatly resemble those of the Night and Yellow- 

 crowned Herons. My friends, Dr. Bachman and Mr. Nuttall 

 have both heard the love-notes of this bird. The former 

 says, in a letter to me, i their hoarse croakings, as if their 

 throats were filled with water, were heard on every side ;' 

 and the latter states that e instead of the bump or hoomp of 

 the common Bittern, their call is something like the uncouth 

 syllables of pump-au-gah, but uttered in the same low, bel- 

 lowing tone.' An egg presented by Dr. Brown, of Boston, 

 measures two inches in length, by one inch and a half, and is 

 of a broadly oval shape, rather pointed at the smaller end, 

 and of a uniform dull olivaceous tint." 



In summer, it is said to extend as far northward as the 

 shores of Hudson's Bay, and, according to Dr. Richardson, 

 " is a common bird in the marshes and thickets of the inte- 

 rior of the fur countries up to the fifty-eighth parallel. Its 

 loud booming, exactly resembling that of the Common 

 Bittern of Europe, may be heard every summer evening, and 

 also frequently in the day. When disturbed, it utters a 

 hollow croaking cry," According to Hutchins, it nestles in 

 the swamps, laying four cinereous-green eggs. Its food is 

 said to consist chiefly of fishes and aquatic reptiles, and its 

 flesh, when in good condition, is by many considered, excel- 

 lent. 



The first individual of this species met with in England, 

 was described by Montagu, who states that it " was shot by 

 Mr. Cunnigham, in the parish of PiddletOAvn in Dorsetshire, 

 in the autumn of 1804." This gentleman relates, that when 

 in pursuit of some pheasants, amongst the high banks, 

 between the broad ditches of some rich water-meadows, about 

 half a mile distant from the river Froome, this bird rose, and 

 he shot it. Mr. Cunningham further remarks, that its flight 

 was rather rapid, and that it made a noise something like the 

 tap on a drum, which induced him to believe it was the com- 

 mon Bittern, and as such he sent it to Colonel George, of 

 Penryn, in Cornwall, who at that time was making a col- 

 lection of birds." It was afterwards purchased by Montagu, 



