162 LAND OF THE LINGERING SNOW. 



brakes grew thickly over more than an acre of 

 sparse woodland, and this nest bore the same 

 relation to the miniature forest that an osprey's 

 ponderous structure does to stunted woods by 

 the seashore. 



Another bird which I was pleased to see was 

 the kingbird. Three chilly individuals of this 

 pugnacious species sat close together on a willow 

 limb, now and then one of them flying up with 

 a harsh chatter to catch an insect on the wing. 

 While watching these kingbirds I fancied that 

 I heard the sound of a bittern " pumping." It 

 was just six o'clock, and the sound seemed far 

 away, but I scanned the meadow carefully 

 through a gap in the willows. About a hun- 

 dred yards from the road was a pile of weathered 

 meadow hay, containing perhaps two or three 

 pitchforks-full. On this stood a bittern. His 

 coloring harmonized with it so well that at first 

 I mistook him for a bundle of it poked up 

 against a stake. I watched him for nearly ten 

 minutes, part o the time from the road, later 

 from behind a bunch of bushes fifty feet nearer 

 to him. Four times during this period he made 

 his singular call. His body seemed to be carried 

 about at the angle of a turkey's. His neck was 

 much curved. Suddenly the lower part of the 

 curve was agitated in a way to suggest retch- 

 ing, and a hint of the sound to come later be- 



