33U Sketches of Some Common Birds. 



oftener than it remains. The male takes his turn in 

 brooding the eggs, and displays his interest in the house- 

 hold by remaining on the nest sometimes until he is lifted 

 from the eggs. When surprised on the nest, the incuba- 

 ting bird will almost invariably protrude its bill upward, 

 in the vertical posture so common to the larger bittern, 

 though it is not so pugnacious, and discovers no disposi- 

 tion to defend its home. At other time^ when the nest is 

 approached, the bird will slink from its habitation and 

 attempt to elude the notice of the intruder by climbing 

 down among the adjacent stems. 



Whatever its movements, and some of them indicate a 

 low degree of instinct, the bittern makes no noise. In my 

 observations of its habits I have never heard an individual 

 utter a call or cry of any kind, though I have listened 

 intently for it, and advised my companions to listen for 

 any of its utterances. 



Dr. A. C Murchison, who has observed the habits of 

 the least bittern in our Illinois swamps, says: "I have 

 never heard one make any sound, and men who have 

 lived in the swamps all their lives say it makes no call 

 whatever." Dr. Morris Gibbs, another accurate observer 

 of bird-ways, says that so far as he knows the least bittern 

 is silent and has not been known to utter a sound, even 

 when captured. Thomas Mcllwraith asserts that when 

 disturbed it rises without note or noise of any kind. The 

 foregoing is negative testimony of the bittern in its resorts. 

 On the other hand. Dr. Coues quotes from Audubon, in 

 "Birds of the Northwest," that "when startled from the 

 nest the old birds emit a few notes resembling the syllable 

 qua,'' and other writers who refer to the notes of this bit- 

 tern, doubtless base their knowledge upon this assertion 

 of the great naturalist. The weight of testimony from 

 the later observers is of negative character, yet more 

 extensive knowledge of the life of the bittern may prove 

 the affirmative side of the question. This bird would 

 seem even more peculiar if it has no oral means of com- 

 munication with its fellows, no power of expressing its 

 emotions audibly, whether they be intense or limited in 

 degree. 



The latter days of the summer are spent by the least 



