60 NEBRASKA ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION 



to our camp and in a few days had them very tame — so tame in fact 

 that they would come to us to receive the grasshoppers which w^e 

 captured and offered them. 



One night while located in this camp we heard an unusual noise just 

 back of the tent. It seemed to come from the interior of a small sand 

 knoll lying between us and a small lake a few hundreds of yards 

 away. I myself thought some one had located in the neighboring 

 sand-hills where he had built for himself a home and had come down 

 into the A^alley after nightfall in the neighborhood of our tent for 

 some ulterior purpose. At any rate it seemed improbable that his 

 mission to this part of the valley could be for water, knowing as I did 

 that this was to be had almost anywhere. Just what the other mem- 

 bers of the party thoiight remains vmtold to this day. But as to the 

 aforesaid noise I must confess that it was akin to that most unearthly 

 sound produced by an old wooden pumj) sucking wind. To say that 

 my inquisitiveness didn't get the better of me would be untrue. I got 

 up in spite of the mosquitoes and went out to see who this new neigh- 

 bor of ours might be, believing as we did that the nearest settlement 

 was a dozen or more miles away. But search as I would nothing could 

 be seen in the dark. Early next morning in order to satisfy myself 

 I went down towards the lake to obtain a clue as to who this man 

 w^ith the pump might be and where he came from. Strange as it may 

 seem not even a shadow of a clue ^vas to be found of our midnight 

 visitor, and, in the language of the novelist, the mystery deepened. 

 Next day, however, the noise ^vas repeated while the sun shone 

 brightly. The mystery had so deepened by this time that solved it 

 must be. A visit to the locality was at once decided upon, but lo! I 

 could see nothing that looked unusual. Only a lone bittern was visible 

 upon the near shore of the lake, and he was apparentl3^ unconcerned 

 as well as undisturbed by the noise of a few moments before. But 

 while I stood there endeavoring- to solve the greatest puzzle of my 

 life this lone bird changed his listless attitude and commenced to 

 IJerform. He felt like sing-ing' and he began to sing, and the song that 

 he sang was that of the old wooden f)ump sucking wind. The mystery 

 was solved and I slunk back to camp only to keep quiet about our 

 new neighbor. Moral: Perseverance will solve the deepest of mys- 

 teries. We found no bitterns' nests this year although there must 

 have been hundreds of them in the region jvidging from the nightly 

 revelry at the lakeside just behind the little hill. 



A few belated ducks' nests and some of other birds were taken. The 

 next year we returned to the localitj'^ somewhat earlier to do our 

 plowing and tree-planting, and left during the latter jiart of May or 

 early in June. During" this period, how^ever, birds' eggs of various 

 kinds were so abundant that we had all we could eat in camp. In fact, 

 hje and bye, they became so plentiful that we tired of eggs as a diet; 

 and this, too, only from the nests that were run across simply in 



