70 EVERYDAY BIRDS 
This was good luck indeed, — that I should 
surprise my very first bittern in his famous act, 
a thing which better men than I, after years of 
familiarity with the bird, had never once suc- 
ceeded in accomplishing. Who says that For- 
tune does not sometimes favor the fresh hand ? 
The fellow repeated the operation three times, 
and between whiles moved stealthily through 
the grass toward the leavings of the haycock 
before mentioned. 
When he reached the hay, we held our breath. 
Would he actually mount it? Yes, that was 
undoubtedly his intention; but he meant to do 
it in such’a way that no mortal eye should see 
him. All the time glancing furtively to left and 
right, as if the grass were full of enemies, he put 
one foot before the other with almost inconceiv- 
able slowness, — as the hour hand turns on the 
clock’s face. It was an admirable display of an 
art which this race of frog, mouse, and insect 
catchers has cultivated for untold generations — 
an art on which its livelihood depends, the art 
of invisible motion. 
There was no resisting the ludicrousness of 
his manner. He was in full view, but so long 
as he kept still he seemed to think himself quite 
safe from detection. Like the hand of the clock, 
however, if he was slow he was sure, and in time 
