THE CRANE KIND. 323 



the loud scream of the wild goose, the croaking 

 of the mallard, the whining of the lapwing, and 

 the tremulous neighing of the jack-snipe. But 

 of all those sounds, there is none so dismally 

 hollow as the booming of the bittern. It is 

 impossible for words to give those who have not 

 heard this evening call an adequate idea of its 

 solemnity. It is like the interrupted bellowing 

 of a bull, but hollower and louder, and is heard 

 at a mile's distance, as if issuing from some for- 

 midable being that resided at the bottom of the 

 waters. 



The bird, however, that produces this terrify- 

 ing sound is not so big as a heron, with a weaker 

 bill, and not above four inches long. It differs 

 from the heron chiefly in its colour, which is in 

 general of a palish yellow, spotted and barred 

 with black. Its windpipe is fitted to produce the 

 sound for which it is remarkable ; the lower part 

 of it dividing into the lungs, is supplied with a 

 thin loose membrane, that can be filled with 

 a large body of air, and exploded at pleasure. 

 These bellowing explosions are chiefly heard 

 from the beginning of spring to the end of 

 autumn ; and however awful they may seem to 

 us, are the calls to courtship, or of connubial 

 felicity. 



From the loudness and solemnity of the note, 

 many have been led to suppose that the bird 

 made use of external instruments to produce it, 

 and that so small a body could never eject such a 

 quantity of tone. The common people are of 

 opinion, that it thrusts its bill into a reed that 



