396 THE BITTERN. 



his watery abodes. Like the Herons in general, he prefers 

 the twilight and the night for his excursions, but may be 

 seen abroad at any time of day. 



Though by no means as noisy as his European congener, 

 in the breeding season, especially morning and evening, the 

 male has a peculiar and startling vocal performance, which 

 once heard can never be mistaken. It may be at least sug- 

 gested by its names, Dunk-a-doo or Stake-driver, the former 

 word imitating the note, the latter naming an act which resem- 

 bles it in sound. Nuttall, the great interpreter of bird notes, 

 has rendered it by the syllables, pump-au-gah. I can recall 

 it by the syllables, ponk-ah-gong, or kunk-ah-whulnk. On St. 

 Clair Flats, where this bird breeds in great numbers, these 

 weird notes, sounding in every direction, are characteristic 

 of the evenings in spring and early summer. The stake- 

 driving begins about three or four o'clock in the afternoon, 

 continues on into the night, and the notes occur again dur- 

 ing the early hours of the morning. 



As to the nidification of the Bittern, our early ornitholo- 

 gists, even Nuttall and Audubon, knew little or nothing, and 

 the latest authorities are by no means unanimous or satis- 

 factory; some affirming that it breeds in communities, others 

 that it nests singly, a pair to a bog; some that its nest is in 

 a bush or a tree, or in a tussock of grass; others that the 

 nest is always on the ground; while others still assert that 

 it lays its eggs on the ground without any nest whatever. I 

 took a nest the 7th of June, 1881, on Lacloche Island in the 

 northern part of Georgian Bay. A few rods from the water, 

 on a rather rocky rise of ground, and in the edge of a grove 

 of small white birches, it was placed on the ground among 

 weeds and ferns, and made of small sticks, coarse weed-stalks 

 and dried leaves; raised about two inches from the ground 

 and 12-14 inches across, it was perfectly flat and contained 



