AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



225 



HABITS. 



All birds have their peculiarities, and this one is no exception. The 

 most interesting and extraordinary performance of the Bittern is his sing- 

 ing, if it may be designated as such. Because of his vocal abilities he is 

 often known as "Stake Driver," "Thunder Pump," and "Indian Hen." 

 This performance has been described time and again, but the best explan- 

 ation of a witness of the action, is that of Dr. P. L. Hatch in the "Birds 

 of Minnesota." The act of a Prairie Hen cock in booming, the Turkey 

 Gobbler in gobbling, is no more extreme or characteristic than is that of 

 the Bittern in the act of disgorging himself of his inexpressibly infelicitous 

 love notes. Standing perfectly erect and motionless, his bill pointed ex- 

 actly towards the zenith, the head is seen to be very slowly sinking while 

 the body correspondingly assumes the horizontal position and the neck 

 becomes sigmoid by its double flexion, it suddenly shoots forwards and 

 downwards and laboriously pumps out its amorous utterances, doubtless 

 to the entire satisfaction of the waiting ear, whether the mate's or another 

 masculine representative of the species, that accepts the challenge to come 

 over and get most ingloriously thrashed. Aspectively the performance is 

 suggestive of strangulation until "Kunk-ah-whulnk" has all been ejected. 



The Bittern prefers a marshy locality and as a rule may be found 

 where the footing is treacherous. He likes to build his home on the cen- 

 ter of some bog where in order to reach it one must risk taking a sudden 

 bath in several feet of slimy water. When not hungry they are lazy 

 birds and instead of flying will try to escape by running through the tall 

 grass, that is if they do not stand perfectly still and try -to escape observa- 

 tion by passing themselves off as one of the rushes. If you come upon 

 them suddenly, they will start up with a croak, as though disgusted at 

 being obliged to fly. They are remarkably adept at catching frogs and 

 can strike a powerful blow with their large beaks. Their flight is slow 

 but easy, and at a distance while on the wing they do not look unlike a 

 large hawk except that their wings are rather broad. 



