THE LEAST BITTERN 69 



was protected. Her bright yellow eyes glared with 

 the intensity of a snake's, and her reptilelike appear- 

 ance was increased by the length and slenderness of 

 her head and neck. Her courage was admirable; 

 she not only displayed no fear, but was actually 

 aggressive, and with a hissing hah struck viciously 

 at my hand each time it was placed near the nest. 

 As I quickly retreated on each occasion, and at 

 length made no further move toward her, she de- 

 cided to withdraw, perhaps to join her cautious mate, 

 who from the reeds had been uttering a warning iut- 

 iut-iut at intervals. Very slowly and watchfully she 

 left the nest, and when she had advanced a few feet 

 through the reeds I again ventured to touch her 

 platform home, putting my hand, however, under 

 it ; but the motion instantly attracted her attention, 

 and, darting back to her post, she was on guard in a 

 moment. Then I left her, retiring from the field 

 fairly vanquished in my first hand-to-bill encounter 

 with a wild bird. I hope she laid a full complement 

 of five eggs and from them reared five birds worthy 

 representatives of their mother. 



A desire to renew my acquaintance with or per- 

 haps I should say advances toward this unbird- 

 like feathered biped, and to meet it under conditions 

 more favorable for the camera hunter, brought me 

 the following year (June 17, 1899), to the Montezuma 

 marshes at the head of Cayuga Lake. Here are 

 endless forests of cat-tails in which dwell not only 

 Bitterns, Long-billed Marsh Wrens, and Red-winged 

 Blackbirds, but also numbers of Pied-billed Grebes 

 and Florida Gallinules. 



