234 BIRDS OF THE MOOR. 



and interesting. Goldsmith considered one of these 

 worthy of introduction into his " Deserted Village " as 

 contributing to the poetic sentiment of desolation. Thus, 

 in his description of the grounds which were the ancient 

 site of the village, we read : 



" Along its glades, a solitary guest, 

 The hollow-sounding Bittern guards its nest." 



The American Bittern is a smaller bird than the one to 

 which the poet alludes, but is probably a variety of the 

 European species. It displays the same nocturnal habits, 

 and has received at the South the name of Dunkadoo, 

 from the resemblance of its common note to those sylla- 

 bles. This is a hollow-sounding noise, which would at- 

 tract the attention of every listener. I have heard it by 

 day in wooded swamps near ponds, and am at a loss to 

 explain how so small a bird can produce so low and hol- 

 low a note. The common people of England have a 

 notion that it thrusts its head into a hollow reed and uses 

 it as a speaking-trumpet, and at times puts its head into 

 the water and bubbles its notes in imitation of a bullfrog. 

 The American Bittern utters another note resembling the 

 sound produced by hammering upon a stake when driv- 

 ing it into the ground. Hence the name of Stake-driver 

 applied to him in some parts of New England. 



THE QUA BIRD. 



On a still evening in summer no sound is more com- 

 mon above our heads than the singular voice of the Qua 

 Bird, as he passes in slow and solemn flight from his re- 

 treats where he passes the day to his feeding-places upon 

 the sea-shore. His note is like the syllable quaw sud- 

 denly pronounced. If it were prolonged it might resem- 

 ble the cawing of a Crow. This note is very frequently 

 repeated, though one note by the same bird is never 



