Bird Study in a Nebraska Swamp 67 



evening of the sixth, and we watched this nest most of the 

 day on the seventh. In marked contrast to the timidity of 

 the Bittern, these birds were devoid of fear. Wliile we 

 hauled the boat and blind in place and drove stakes to anchor 

 it, the female sat quietly on the nest. And when we removed 

 the blind, the male gave an exhibition of equal fearlessness 

 by sitting on the nest through it all and pecking angrily at 

 our fingers when we tried to touch him. On July 7 at 8 :00 

 A.M. I entered the blind. The female was on the nest and 

 did not leave until I stepped into the boat, causing the blind 

 to tip suddenly toward her. At this she stepped off from the 

 nest and walked some five or six steps. After remaining there 

 watching the blind for about thirty minutes she returned. 

 The nest was a small platform built in the rushes and back 

 of it was a mass of broken down vegetation which formed a 

 platform several feet square. This the Bitterns used as a 

 landing place. The fifth egg had hatched and the shell was 

 gone when I entered the blind, although the nestling was not 

 yet dry. One or the other of the parents kept the nest 

 covered throughout the day and both assumed the same posi- 

 tion. They sat on the nest with the wings spread in such a 

 manner as to give the body a curious flattened appearance 

 while the head and neck were extended to their full length 

 with the beak pointing straight in the air. Occasionally the 

 head was lowered for an instant to examine the young but 

 almost immediately was raised again. Every bird that flew 

 by was watched and every movement in the surrounding 

 vegetation seemed to be noted by the bird on the nest. This 

 position had the advantage of elevating the eyes some distance 

 above the nest and gave the bird a better view of what was 

 going on around. 



I was curious to see how these newly hatched yoiuig would 

 get their food ; to see if they were fed as the young American 

 Bitterns had been. At 10 :50 the bright colored little male 

 alighted on the platform behind the nest and stood there 

 watching the female who was on the nest. From time to 

 time he allowed the beak to hang open and shook his head 

 in a comical way. After he had been doing this for ten 



