310 Sketches of Some Common Birds. 



reaching its swampy home about the middle of April, 

 where it can be found by experienced observers until the 

 last of October. Its shy disposition is more apparent than 

 that of the king rail, and unless we chance upon it in our 

 tramps through the bog, we might fail to notice its pres- 

 ence. It is not dexterous in running and skulking in its 

 reedy haunts, but is of a more contemplative disposition, 

 and when undisturbed will stand almost motionless for 

 many minutes. Its attitude in this mood is most peculiar. 

 It elevates the forepart of its slender body until it is nearly 

 in a line with its long legs, and then stretching upwards 

 its long neck and sharp, pointed bill in the same contin- 

 uous line, it stands rapt in reverie. Only acute observa- 

 tion can then detect it among the stems of the reeds with 

 which it is so closely assimilated. Thus it lives through 

 the day, like an anchorite, spending hours in reverie and 

 contemplation, no doubt reputed to be wise and sage by 

 the other inhabitants of the swamp-lake who pass it in 

 their more active enjoyment of the bright hours of the 

 day. 



When disturbed in its resting places in the daytime, 

 the bittern arises in a hurried, nervous manner, with legs 

 dangling and neck outstretched, jerking its body forward 

 with every flap of its strong wings, hoarsely squawking. 

 Its harsh cry of alarm sounds something like the syllable 

 ''kawk," and persons who live in the vicinity of the 

 swamps know the bittern as the "squawk," from the 

 hoarse, guttural note it utters. It ordinarily flies some 

 distance, rising above the reeds in a slightly ascending 

 line until the end of its flight, when it drops rather 

 abruptly into the flags in another part of the area. When 

 one is well under way, it sometimes soars easily and grace- 

 fully like one of the larger buzzard-hawks, though the 

 long legs thrust backward and the neck bent upon the 

 forepart of the body indicate its relationship to the herons. 

 Sometimes one will soar and circle high in the air of its 

 own accord, and I have thus seen individuals floating at 

 such great heights that one unacquainted with their pecu- 

 liar habits would believe them to be hawks. 



When one arises in the startled manner described, on 

 slowly beating, heavy pinions, moving unsteadily because 



