The crocus droop their petals, 



The tulips nod their heads, 

 The pink arbutus nestles 



In soft pine-needle beds. 

 The bluebird gay is lilting. 



Songs from the apple-tree, 

 His brown mate's heart he's melting 



With spring-time melody. 



The bursting roadside flowers, 



The cowslips by the brook, 

 The grape-vines in their bowers, 



The violet in its nook, 

 The willow's fuzzy catkins, 



The brook that prattles clear, 

 All earth's fragrant, growing things, 



Proclaim that spring is here. 



The Least Bittern (ixobrychus exiUs) 



By Gerard Alan Abbott 



Length: 12 to 14 inches. 



Range : Temperate North America north to British Provinces, and south 

 to the West Indies and Brazil. 



This beautiful bird is of a retiring disposition, though not averse to living 

 in a noisy environment, provided it is unmolested in its home among the tall 

 grasses and rushes of marshes. Several authors speak of the least bittern as 

 a "silent bird," although the writer has frequently seen and heard it utter a 

 peculiar "squeak," especially if suddenly approached. It loves to lurk in the 

 reedy borders of boggy ponds and marshy lakesides where gallinules and rails 

 abound. An interesting habit of this bird is that of perching on an upright reed 

 where, with its neck extended, it remains motionless, closely resembling in color 

 and form a bunch of dead reeds, in order to escape detection. While pushing 

 my boat among the rushes during a rainstorm I once saw a least bittern roosting 

 in a clump of vegetation, with its head drawn between its shoulders, oblivious 

 to its surroundings. I gently touched it when "Rock, rock.-" it seemed to call, 

 and in its sudden efforts to escape lost its equilibrium and fell into the water. 



Its nest of grasses, etc., is placed among reeds or in a small bush, three to 

 six bluish white eggs are laid, and often in a straight row. This awkward bird's 

 food consists of slugs, frogs, tadpoles, beetles and their kin. 



282 



