76 EVERYDAY BIRDS 
flight he again pumped immediately upon coming 
to the ground. This trick, which surprised me 
not a little in view of the severe exertion required, 
is perhaps akin to the habit of smaller birds, who 
in seasons of excitement will very often break 
into song at the moment of striking a perch. 
As we came down the track on our way back 
to the station, three bitterns were in the air at 
once, while a fourth was booming on the opposite 
side of the road. One of the flying birds per- 
sistently dangled his legs instead of drawing 
them up in the usual fashion and letting the feet 
stick out behind, parallel with the tail. Probably 
he was “showing off,’ as is the custom of many 
birds during the season of mating. 
Our bird across the road, by the bye, was not 
pumping, but driving a stake. The middle sylla- 
ble was truly a mighty whack with a mallet on 
the head of a post, so that I could easily enough 
credit Mr. Samuels’s statement that he once fol- 
lowed the sound for half a mile, expecting to 
find a farmer setting a fence. 
In the midst of the hurly-burly we saw a boy 
coming toward us on the track. 
“Let.’s ask him about it,” said my eompanion. 
So, with an air of inquisitive ignorance, he 
stopped the fellow, and inquired, “ Do you know 
what it is we hear making that curious noise off 
there in the meadow?” 
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