210 



THE OOLOGIST. 



About September Ist the Cliimuey 

 Swift departs ou the southern niigra- 

 tioG, which iu my miud is much moi-e 

 preferable than hilieruatiug with tiie 

 •eels- 



Chaklks L. Philui's, 



Taunton, Mass. 



Among the Least Bitterns. 



■BY C. S. BRIMLEY, KALhIGH, N. C. 



Not far from Raleigli, b^' tVie side of a 

 small creek, there is a good sized marsh 

 filled with a dense growth of cat -tails, 

 :and bulrushes, with scattering patches 

 of swamp rose in the water, and wil- 

 lows, alders and other bushes around 

 the edge and in some of the drier por- 

 tions of the swamp. 



The bulrushes do not grow in com- 

 pan_y with the cat-tails {Lypha htJiJ'oUa) 

 as a rule but occupy large portions of 

 the swamp by themselves growing in 

 tussocks separated by one to three feet 

 •of space from each other, the watei- in 

 this portion of the swamp being about 

 two feet deep. 



On May 23, 1893, accompanied by my 

 dogs Torp and Blazes, I started out to 

 get what I could from the swamp; the 

 first part I tried furnished nothiug but 

 several Redwinged Blackbirds nests with 

 three or four eggs in each which I did not 

 take, so I went around to a large tract 

 of bulrushes on the north side of the 

 marsh; before I had gone many yards in- 

 to the swamp a Least Bittern rose and 

 was beatifuUy missed; he however set- 

 tled in a willow on the edge of the n arsh 

 and was promptly bagged at the next 

 shot, proving to be a nice male. 



On I'e-eutering the swamp and pro- 

 ceeding through the bulrushes towards 

 a patch of swamp rose, another Least 

 Bitteru arose out of them and went otV in 

 safety; as this one looked like a feruale, 

 I searched among the rose patch and 

 soon found her nest containing five 

 jonng, one l)cinga runt, their backs and 



wings covered with yellow down and a 

 lengthened crest of down on the head, 

 funny looking little creatures. The nest 

 was a saucer shaped platform of bul- 

 rushes, built partly ou rushes and partly 

 ou the rose bushes about eighteen inch- 

 es above the water. 



The young were promptly Iiagged and 

 I soon flushed another Bittern, which I 

 shot at as she was flying over a dense 

 buuch of cattails and on searching 

 among them my dogs finally found her, 

 and my second bird, this time a female 

 was bagged. 



On going round the swamp I flushed 

 a third and finally got a shot at him but 

 could not see the result; Blazes however 

 found him, and my third Least Bittern, 

 a male this time was bagged Near 

 where I shot him down I found what I 

 thought was another nest just started. 

 A week later, on May 30, 1 again tried 

 the swamp; almost as soon as I entered 

 it, another Least Bittern was flushed 

 and bagged, a female; after this I went 

 to look up my supposed nest and flush- 

 ed the female oft" it. I could not get a 

 shot but secured three Iresh eggs from 

 her nest whic-h was a saucer shaped 

 platform of bulrushes built iu the top of 

 a bulrush tussock two feet above the 

 water, and partly supported by the rose 

 bushes. 



I flushed several more Least Bitterns, 

 but could not get another shot. Later 

 on however I flu-hed a large bird which 

 I shot down as he rose with the thought 

 "Great Blue Heion in tlull plumage, 

 don't want him, l)ut looks too tempt- 

 ing not to shoot at." On reaching 

 the place where he fell, it proved to 

 be an American Bitteru with one leg 

 and one wing broken, but able to strike 

 savagely at the dogs, both of which re- 

 ceived several sharp blows on the nose 

 and cheeks before I secured him. J he 

 Bittern was a female with enlarged ovi- 

 duct and small o.aries. and the breast 

 considerably bare. I judged, she was 

 a sitting bii-d, thus adiling another 



