Some Hermits of the Marsh 



mower on the marsh. When thus alarmed, 

 it rises awkwardly and heavily, craning its 

 neck in all directions, and uttering a hoarse, 

 croaking note. The bird is a powerful flyer, 

 however, when once fairly on the wing. It 

 often rises to a considerable height, and flies 

 a long distance before again settling in the 

 marsh. 



The odd, far-sounding note of the bittern, 

 when undisturbed, has been variously lik 

 ened by writers on ornithology to the driv 

 ing of a stake into moist, soft ground as 

 the common name of the bird indicates 

 to the hollow coughing of an old wooden 

 pump, and to the rattling stroke of a pair 

 of loose "pin-oars" on a scow. Like all 

 bird-sounds, the note represents different 

 things to different ears, and is hard to de 

 scribe with exactness. It resembles in a 

 general way all three of the sounds to which 

 it is commonly likened, and yet it has a 

 cadence 'and quality and character of its 

 own that are quite distinct from any of them. 

 To me, it always suggests the sound of the 

 old pump back of my uncle's house in the 

 country, where I used to spend all my va 

 cations as a boy. The first hollow, guttural 



47 



