184 LAND OF THE LINGERING SNOW. 



long stiffened neck of the bittern pointing 

 towards the zenith, from a spot fifteen or twenty 

 yards distant from the place which we had just 

 left. He was quite as near us as before, and 

 this time he had no suspicion of our where- 

 abouts. I climbed into the middle of one of the 

 oaks, and my friend secured a comfortable posi- 

 tion on the wall below, and with glasses and a 

 stop-watch in constant use, we reduced the bit- 

 tern's performance to its lowest terms. 



The bird, when at rest between his spasms, 

 stood with his neck extended and raised, and his 

 head and beak pointing forward and upward. 

 The first indication that he was about to pump 

 was a deliberate lowering of his beak to the 

 level of his body, and the settling down into his 

 breast and feathers of his long neck. This made 

 his breast look larger and fuller than when his 

 head was raised and his neck stretched upward. 

 The slow motion of lowering the head into line 

 with the body was followed by a slight shake of 

 the head and throat, and the first of a series of 

 motions which were caused apparently by volun- 

 tary swallowing of air. The bill opened, the 

 head was raised slightly and then dropped, and 

 the bill closed with a snap. The first snap was 

 scarcely audible, the second was much louder, 

 the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth perfectly dis- 

 tinct, and a seventh, when made, was less dis- 



