THE BITTERN 81 
see a bittern pump almost any day, if he will go 
to a suitable meadow which has a railroad run- 
ning through it. The track answers a double 
purpose: it gives the observer an outlook, such 
as cannot be obtained from a boat, and further- 
more, the birds are quite unsuspicious of things 
on the track, while the presence of a man in the 
grass or on the river would almost inevitably 
attract their attention. 
