198 UPLAND AND MEADOW. 



strong enough to be lifted from the tuft of bulrush upon 

 which it rested. There were a single dirty blue-white 

 egg, and four fuzzy baby bitterns, not a week old. They 

 were clad in pale buff down, scantily dusted over them, 

 and an abundance of straight white hairs, as long as 

 their bodies. These young birds were far less awkward, 

 even now, than herons of the same or even greater age. 

 As I took one up, it thrust its opened beak at me, but, 

 becoming quickly reconciled, seemed to take pleasure in 

 the warmth of my hand. At times it uttered a pecul- 

 iarly clear, fife-like cry, such as might readily be referred 

 to a piping hylodes, or any one of several finches. Its 

 clear voice, free from every trace of harshness, was no- 

 ticed and remarked upon by all who heard it. 



My efforts to rear this little bittern were not success- 

 ful. Although I strove hard to imitate nature, the little 

 fellow persistently refused to take food, and to reject all 

 that was forcibly thrust into his stomach. 



The spring -brook passing through several upland 

 fields widens at one point to form a shallow pond, and 

 there tlie steep banks are most intricately burrowed in 

 many places, as though pygmy nmskrats were in great 

 abundance. I have watched the openings of these un- 

 derground retreats for hours, as it seemed to me, and 

 yet liave never seen their occupants, or any creature, 

 great or small, in the act of burrowing. 



There are two ways of solving such a problem as this 

 in reference to the identity of the burrowing creatures 

 whose works have been mentioned : by persistent watch- 

 ing and digging along the course of a tunnel, until you 



