48 BIRDS OF THE WAVE AND WOODLAND 



of any particular time and season, because they are not suffi- 

 ciently familiar. 



It is only by some fortunate accident and in particular places 

 that you may hear the lonely cry of 



" the heron as he spreads his wing, 

 By twiUght o'er a haunted spring ; " 



or the bittern 



" bellowing harsh, 

 To its dark bottom shake the shuddering marsh." 



It is a very quaint and ancient myth that the " mire- 

 dromble " or " mere-drum " fixed its beak in a hollow reed or 

 in the bog, and by '* snoring," "booming," or "bellowing" 

 throuo-h it made, as Burns says, "the quagmire reel." 

 Several poets refer to the bittern "shaking the solid ground," 

 Thomson among them, in the absurd lines, " The bittern 

 knows his time, with bill ingulpht, to shake the surrounding- 

 marsh." But they are all to be traced back to Michael Dray- 

 ton's description of how 



" The buzzing bitter sits, while through his hollow bill 

 A sudden bellowing sounds, which many times doth fill 

 The neighbouring marsh with noise, as though a bull did roar." 



It is altogether a delightful bird in poetry and folk-lore, 

 this "bog-bumper " or " betowre," or whatever name we choose 



