HERONS, RAILS, ETC. 225 



when I have seen a bird in this position I have heard 

 another " booming." The sound is made by forcing 

 the air from its crop through the throat, and is ex- 

 pelled with a curious noise that sounds like ttm-b&h 

 when heard at a distance, but has a different sound 

 and a not readily described one when you hear it near 

 by. Indeed, the sound is not a uniform one, and 

 even varies at times with the same bird. This " boom- 

 ing" is kept up until pretty late, but is very rarely 

 heard except after sundown. I have never heard it 

 in the winter. 



Of all our water-birds, I have always had the 

 strongest liking for the Least Bittern. It is beautiful, 

 gentle, readily tamed, and has when in its own haunts 

 a quiet, winning way about it that is captivating. 

 They are abundant every year in a tract of marshy 

 meadows along the Delaware, and there are not at all 

 shy. It has a habit, that I have often noticed, of 

 walking out into the open meadow and picking up 

 grasshoppers with a dexterity that is very marked, 

 and when apparently no longer hungry, it throws its 

 head back and rests it between its wings so that the 

 beak is pointed directly upward. Is this to aid diges- 

 tion ? The position is maintained but for a minute 

 or two, and then the bird runs off to the marsh and 

 is out of sight. When startled, the bird will often 

 raise its wings and give perhaps half a dozen strokes, 

 and then drop again into the weeds; but the dis- 

 charge of a gun near will rouse all its energy, and 

 the bird will dart off with rapidly vibrating wings 

 and sometimes pursuing an erratic snipe-like course. 

 Except when disturbed, it is a silent bird, but utters 



