THE BITTERN 15 
ment of the preliminary hiccoughs, and the fur- 
ther fact that the swelling of the breast did not 
go down gradually during the course of the per- 
formance, but suddenly at the close, — all these 
incline me to believe that the notes are mainly if 
not entirely caused by the inhalation or swallow- 
ing of the air; and I am somewhat strengthened 
in this opinion by perceiving that when a man 
takes air into his stomach the act is attended by 
a sound not altogether unlike the bittern’s note 
in quality, while the expulsion of it gives rise to 
noises of an entirely dissimilar character. 
That the sounds in question were not made 
entirely by any ordinary action of the vocal or- 
gans was the decided opinion of both my friend 
and myself. 
As I have said, we watched the performance 
for more than an hour. We were sitting squarely 
upon the track, and once were compelled to get 
up to let a train pass; but the bittern evidently 
paid no attention to matters on the railway, being 
well used to thunder in that direction, and stood 
his ground without wincing. 
When he had pumped long enough, — and the 
operation surely looked like pretty hard work, — 
he suddenly took wing and flew a little distance 
down the meadow. The moment he dropped into 
the grass he pumped, and on making another 
