BOTAURUS MUGITANS : AMERICAN BITTERN. 271 



of happiness are peculiar. He prefers solitude, and 

 leads the eccentric life of a recluse, " forgetting the 

 world, and by the world forgot." To see him at his 

 ordinary occupation, one might fancy him shouldering 

 some heavy responsibility, oppressed with a secret, 

 or laboring in the solution of a problem of vital con- 

 sequence. He stands motionless, with his head drawn 

 in upon his shoulders, and half-closed eyes, in profound 



FIG. 58. BITTERN. 



meditation, or steps about in a devious way, with an 

 absent-minded air ; for greater seclusion, he will even 

 hide in a thick brush-clump for hours together. Startled 

 in his retreat whilst his thinking-cap is on, he seems 

 dazed, like one suddenly aroused from a deep sleep ; but 

 as soon as he collects his wits, remembering un- 

 pleasantly that the outside world exists, he shows com- 

 mon sense enough to beat a hasty retreat from a scene 

 of altogether too much action for him. Some such 

 traits have doubtless led to the belief that he is chiefly 



