106 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



HAB. Temperate North America, south to Guatemala and the West Indies. 

 The nest of the Bittern is placed 011 the ground. 



The eggs, three to five in number, are brownish-drab, measuring about 2.00 

 by 1.50. 



The American Bittern is a common summer resident, found in all 

 suitable places throughout Ontario, where, during the early summer, 

 may be heard the peculiar clunking sound which has gained for the 

 species the not inappropriate name of " Stake Driver." It seldom 

 leaves the marsh, where it makes its home and finds its favorite fare 

 of fish, frogs and lizards. It drops readily to a light charge of shot, 

 but when wounded makes a fierce resistance, raising the feathers of 

 the head and neck and striking straight at the eye of a dog with its 

 sharp-pointed bill. It arrives as soon as the flags begin to show 

 green, about the end of April, and leaves again for the south toward 

 the end of September, or later, according to the weather. 



During the breeding season it has a wide distribution, being quite 

 common in the Northern States, and Dr. Bell tells us it is found on 

 both sides of Hudson's Bay. It does not frequent the clear, running 

 stream, but the wide, stagnant marsh, where its cry is one of the 

 characteristic sounds heard the summer through. The cry is very 

 peculiar, and I do not think it well understood just how it is pro- 

 duced. Many people believe that it is caused by water being taken 

 into the throat and quickly thrown out again, but so far as I have 

 noticed, no water is used in the operation. 



Once or twice, while hidden among the reeds watching for ducks, 

 I have seen a bittern uttering his love notes, and the impression 

 made upon me was, that however pleasing they might be to the ears 

 for which they were intended, their production must be painful to 

 the operator, for he looked as if he had recently taken a violent 

 emetic, and was suffering the usual results. 



There are two distinct calls used by these birds, but whether or 

 not any one bird can utter both is not at present known. These 

 calls consist of three syllables each, with the accent strongest on the 

 first and weakest on the middle syllable. They are heard with about 

 equal frequency. One is soft and windy, like "pumph-ah-gah," while 

 the other is harder and more decided, like " chunk-a-lunk." Both are 

 repeated a good many times, and in the still evening, when they are 

 most frequently observed, they can be heard a long way off. This 

 call, though loud and deep, is not equal in that respect to the call of 

 the British Bittern, which is said to resemble the bellowing of a bull, 

 and is the origin of the term Botaurus, by which the bird is now 



