464 THE AMERICAN BITTERN. 
If the fishing is poor, he may venture up into the meadows in search of moles 
and mice. When suddenly flushed, the bird makes off with a low frightened 
quawk, on heavy noiseless wings; but if he has a moment’s warning, and 
a ghost of a show at concealment, the bird stretches instead to an enormous 
height, holding the long bill vertically, and becomes rigid. In such a posi- 
tion it requires the closest scrutiny to distinguish the bird from the surround- 
ing reeds. Even in the open the bird will pose as a stake or a weed, and 
often quite successfully, relaxing or flying only when the danger is past. 
When at rest and unsuspicious, as in the heart of the swamp, the Bittern 
allows his feathers to droop like a rudely thatched roof, and he himself 
looks not unlike a 
deserted hut, fit em- 
blem of the melan- 
choly morass. 
Ihe TS. ine ie 
however, upon 
his beauty nor 
upon his weight 
that the Bit- 
tern’s  reputa- 
tion rests, but 
upon his won- 
derful voice. 
The moonlight 
serenade which 
this ardent lov- 
er accords his 
mistress is one 
dy ee ae of the most out- 
Cea Se R. L. Baird. landish per- 
formances in 
nature. ‘Take an air-tight hogshead and immerse it suddenly in water with 
the bung-hole down; then allow the air to escape in great gurgles, say a 
caskful at a time, and you will get but a faint idea of the terrifying, earth- 
shaking power of the “Thunder-pump” at close range. Umph-ta-googh, 
umph-ta-googh, groans this absurd wooer, and the swamp quakes with ap- 
prehension. The case is serious, for the bird accompanies the cry with a 
motion which suggests the miseries of the Scriptural whale, and each suc- 
cessive Jonah has a long way to go before reaching fresh air. Maria likes 
the noise, of course, and,—well, love is like seasickness at certain stages. 
The birds also indulge in another note not less strange, but somewhat 
less startling —that of a stake smitten by a hammer. //hack - a- whack, 
