AMERICAN BITTERN 



J\/[dY 14, 1906. Found one roosting 

 * '-* in a thorn tree not one hundred 

 feet from the house. He sat there as long 

 as we wanted to study him, and we came 

 as near as we liked, he following us all the 

 time with his strange yellow eye. He sat 

 like a ten pin on the branch, his neck and 

 bill stretched straight up and a front view 

 looking like this : 



his eyes looking perfectly round, not fore- 

 shortened to an oval, a most curious and 

 weird effect. He still sat there, immov- 

 able, when we left. What protective col- 

 oring. His stripes look like brown reeds, 

 and his light colored bill looks like the tip 

 of one. 



[32] 



