426 



Bird- Lore 



my notice, however, have far from impressed me with the complete simulation 

 of which some individuals of this species are capable. 



For ten years after reading Dr. Chapman's descriptions of the Least Bit- 

 tern, in his 'Bird Studies with a Camera,' I searched for a bird that would 

 behave as had his, continuing to defend its nest against the closest approach 



of the intruder; but, 

 every time I dis- 

 covered a nest, the 

 wary bird disap- 

 peared before I could 

 catch more than a 

 glimpse of it. I was 

 little prepared, 



11^^ i '^1 J^,.>^^^^H^^ IHZ^ '-^ therefore, for the 

 n> V ^ 1hriiK^^I^9iii^^^m\\ l^B^ viil (^^perience I am 



about to relate. It 

 was on the thirtieth 

 II 1 V^IU ^^^^^^^H^CX ' 1 I ^ "^ ^^y ^^^^ ^ found 

 7^1 Y MM f^ ''^*^^^^^^^i^B^k d^ ^^^ ^^^^ under dis- 

 cussion. The flag had 

 already grown so 

 high that it waved 

 over my head, as I 

 waded through the 

 marsh, parting the 

 jungle before me. 

 Under such condi- 

 tions one's eyes soon 

 learn to cease their 

 search for birds, or 

 even for movements 

 that might betray 

 their presence, and 

 hunt only for denser spots in the dark green vegetation, that so often 

 indicate a nest with the reeds bent over it. I was not surprised, therefore, 

 when a dark spot, suspended eight or ten inches above the black water, 

 led me to the nest of a Least Bittern, containing five eggs. At least, so it 

 appeared to me; but it was more. I parted the flags and counted the eggs 

 before I finally perceived that there, on the back of the nest and in perfectly 

 plain sight, stood the female bird less than three feet from my eyes. Under 

 other circumstances, I should not have called it a bird, such was the 

 strangeness of the shape which it had assumed. The photograph showing the 

 'reed-posture' gives one but a poor conception of the bird's real appear- 



THE MALE LEAST BITTERN ENTERING THE NEST, 

 BALANCING HIMSELF WITH HIS WING 



