BIRDS OF PEASE MARSH 



The driver regretted the accident chiefly be- 

 cause he feared the Bitterns would not return 

 to nest there another year. True birds of the 

 marsh, cousins of the Herons and the Storks, 

 they are solitary creatures, and make their 

 nests where they are not likely to be disturbed. 

 In the spring when the wild flags are beginning 

 to show green they come from the south and 

 search out their nesting places. In every sense 

 they are home birds, seldom wandering far 

 from the spot they have chosen so long as they 

 can get their food, which consists mostly of 

 fish, frogs and lizards. When they nest near 

 by one hears all through the early summer that 

 thumping sound which gives them the name of 

 Stake Driver or Thunder Pumper. 



The agricultural implements are the least of 

 their dangers, for usually they nest on land too 

 rough and swampy for cultivation, or where the 

 farmer would get poor returns for his labor 

 were he to attempt to drive his mowing ma- 

 chine over the ground. The Bittern has been 

 more in danger from the gunner and his dog 

 than smaller birds of swamp and shore. Now 

 that the beautiful Herons are gone from most 

 of their old haunts, such birds as the Bitterns 

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