THE BITTERN'S LOVE SONG. 163 



came faintly audible. Then the agitation, which 

 became much more violent, affected the upper 

 throat, neck and head, the head being thrown 

 violently upward and the white upon the throat 

 showing like a flash of light every time the spas- 

 modic fling of the neck was repeated. The 

 sound at that short interval was different in 

 quality from the bittern's note carried to a dis- 

 tance. I fancied that it suggested the choking 

 and gurgling of a bottle from which liquid is be- 

 ing poured, the bottle during the process being 

 held inside an empty hogshead. In trying to 

 approach the bird more closely I alarmed him, 

 and he slunk off into the high meadow grass 

 beyond the haycock. At a distance the sound 

 seemed like two words, " pung chuck," but near 

 by there seemed to be a third syllable ; and sev- 

 eral minor sounds, inaudible at a distance, were 

 made while the bird was getting up steam. It 

 seemed to me at the time, knowing nothing of 

 the nature of the process, that the bird produced 

 the sound by a mechanical use of a column of 

 air extending from its open mouth to its stom- 

 ach. Perhaps whooping cough is perennial in 

 the bittern family. 



In this meadow the marsh marigolds were 

 abundant, but on seeking to gather a bunch I 

 felt the first sorrow of the year. The flowers 

 were faded, their golden petals were stained and 



