NORTH AMERICAN MARSH BIRDS / 5 



still standing near the canal. Up to this time ooth had shown white continu- 

 ously but it disappeared as we were approaching them. One took flight when 

 we were in the middle of the river. We got within 20 yards of the other before 

 it moved, and then it merely walked off the marsh. 



Nesting. — Strangely enough neither Wilson nor Audubon ever saw 

 a bittern's nest. But much has been published on it since and nest- 

 ing bitterns have been favorite subjects for photographers. It has 

 often been said that the nest is hard to find, but I have never experi- 

 enced any great difficulty in finding those for which I have looked ; 

 I have even found as many as five in one day. 



In Massachusetts the favorite nesting site seems to be in an exten- 

 sive and rather dense cat-tail marsh, where the nest is at least par- 

 tially concealed among the tall dead flags {Typha latifolia) of the 

 previous year's growth. While incubation is progressing the new 

 growth of green flags is going on, so that by the time the young are 

 hatched the concealment is complete. The nest consists of a practi- 

 cally flat platform of dead flags, a foot or more in diameter and raised 

 only a few inches above the surrounding water or mud. The color 

 of the eggs matches that of the flags almost exactly. Sometimes the 

 flags are arched together over the nest, but moie often it is open above. 

 The nests are sometimes placed in other kinds of swamps or floating 

 bogs, where whatever nesting material is most easily available is used ; 

 sometimes the eggs are laid on what is practically bare ground. I 

 once saw a nest at least 50 yards from a wet meadow; it was found 

 by mowing a grassy slope; the nest was concealed in the long grass, 

 but was on absolutely dry land, on which hay was regularly cut. 



In the sloughs and meadows near Crane Lake, Saskatchewan, we 

 found the American bittern nesting among the cat-tail flags and 

 among the bulrushes {Scirpus lacustris). It was here that I found 

 the five nests in one day, referred to above, all of which were in one 

 slough less than a quarter of a mile square. This is at variance with 

 the statement I have seen in print that only one pair of bitterns 

 nests in a marsh. The nests were the usual platforms of dead flags 

 or bulrushes, to match their surroundings; the measurements of the 

 nests varied from 12 by 14 to 14 by 16 inches; they were built up 6 

 or 7 inches above the water, which was from 1 foot to 18 inches deep. 

 One of these bitterns sat on her nest contentedly while my companion, 

 Herbert K. Job, photographed her at short range. We also found a 

 bittern's nest here on the open meadow, near the slough, where the 

 grass was rather short and the ground nearly dry. 



Dr. P. L. Hatch (1892) says that in Minnesota the nests "consist 

 of small sticks, coarse grass, with more or less leaves of sedge brush 

 and are placed directly on the ground in the most inaccessible bog 

 marshes and slough. Preferably a tuft of willowy sedge is chosen 

 that gives the nest a slight elevation, yet not uniformly so, for I find 



