94 Brewster, Nuptial Plumes of Bitterns. [jan. 



without apparent change of area or position for many minutes 

 at a time, during which the bird may move about over a consider- 

 able space or perhaps merely stand or crouch in the same place. 

 We frequently saw them fully displayed when the Bitterns were 

 "pumping" but not then more conspicuously, or in any different 

 way, then than at other times. When the bird was moving straight 

 towards us with his body carried low and his ruffs fully expanded 

 he looked like a big, white rooster having only the head and breast 

 dark colored, the breast often looking nearly black. For in this 

 aspect and at the distance at which we viewed him (perhaps two 

 hundred yards) the broad ruffs, rising above and reaching well 

 out on both sides of the back and shoulders, completely masked 

 everything at their rear while the head and the shortened neck, 

 being carried so low that they were seen only against the breast, 

 added little or nothing to the visible area of dark plumage. When 

 he was moving away from us in the same crouching attitude the 

 ruffs looked exactly like two white wings — nearly as broad as those 

 of a domestic Pigeon but less long — attached to either side of 

 the back just above the shoulders. When we had a side view of 

 him the outline of the ruffs was completely lost and there seemed 

 to be a band of white as broad as one's hand, extending between the 

 shoulders quite across the back. Thus whichever way he moved 

 or faced the white was always shown, most conspicuously, how- 

 ever, when he turned towards us. It did not ever look dull 

 or faint, or even yellowish, whether seen in bright sunlight, as on 

 the morning of the 17th, or under dark lowering skies, as on the 

 afternoon of the 18th. On the contrary, at all times and under 

 all conditions, when we saw it at all, it appeared to be pure white. 

 When the Bittern was rambling through short, rich-green grass 

 or over blackish mud, the white was often the only thing we could 

 see. It made an odd impression on the mind as it moved about 

 without visible means of propulsion and had we not known just 

 what it was we should certainly have been sorely puzzled to account 

 for it. When the bird was standing or crouching motionless 

 the white might easily have been mistaken for a small patch of 

 snow or for a good-sized sheet of writing paper lying in the marsh. 

 It was so very conspicuous that anyone looking out casually over 

 the marsh could not have failed to notice it at the first glance. As 



rAuk 



