96 Brewster, Nuptial Plumes of Bitterns. [j" n 



quent intervals but showed no white. The female was within 

 twenty yards of him most of the time and for ten or fifteen minutes 

 within three yards. He invariably faced her and she him when he 

 was pumping but neither bird seemed in the least moved by sexual 

 ardor or excitement or did anything especially suggestive of court- 

 ship. Indeed both behaved quite after the usual manner of their 

 kind and altogether differently from the Bitterns seen on the 

 17th and 18th. When they walked it was with dignified slowness, 

 carrying themselves rather erect and lifting and putting down 

 their feet with marked deliberation. They crouched a few times 

 over a pool of water remaining there for many minutes, evidently 

 on the watch for prey, in poses closely similar to those assumed by 

 Night Herons and Great Blue Herons when similarly engaged. 

 Once the female plunged her head under water and drew out 

 something which she first shook violently and then swallowed. 

 Very much of the time she stood motionless with her bill pointing 

 straight upward, her neck elongated and her body plumage so 

 compressed that head, neck and body appeared all of about the 

 same thickness and not much stouter than a man's wrist. When 

 in this attitude she looked almost exactly like a stake, a yard or 

 so in length, rising straight out of the marsh and of a weathered 

 grayish color. The male did precisely the same thing but less 

 often and for shorter periods. It was evident that both birds were 

 apprehensive of danger of some kind and almost constantly on the 

 watch for it. Indeed they seemed even more alert and suspicious 

 than the Great Blue Heron or the Great White Egret often does, 

 when seen under similar conditions. I was somewhat surprised 

 at this and altogether delighted by their wonderful grace of form 

 and movement. During the time I had them under observation 

 they moved onward in a nearly straight course along the edge of 

 the river but so very slowly that the total distance covered was 

 less than forty yards. At length the male rose and flew down 

 river two or three hundred yards. Although he pumped a number 

 of times in this new station the female did not follow him. 



Concord, April 21, 1910. Sunny but hazy; forenoon calm; 

 fresh east wind in afternoon. 



I spent almost the entire day watching Bitterns. There were 

 two males pumping in the Great Meadows, sometimes within fifty 



