THE BITTERN 75 



ment of the preliminary hiccoughs, and the fur- 

 ther fact that the swelling of the breast did not 

 go down gradually during the course of the per- 

 formance, but suddenly at the close, all these 

 incline me to believe that the notes are mainly if 

 not entirely caused by the inhalation or swallow- 

 ing of the air ; and I am somewhat strengthened 

 in this opinion by perceiving that when a man 

 takes air into his stomach the act is attended by 

 a sound not altogether unlike the bittern's note 

 in quality, while the expulsion of it gives rise to 

 noises of an entirely dissimilar character. 



That the sounds in question were not made 

 entirely by any ordinary action of the vocal or- 

 gans was the decided opinion of both my friend 

 and myself. 



As I have said, we watched the performance 

 for more than an hour. We were sitting squarely 

 upon the track, and once were compelled to get 

 up to let a train pass ; but the bittern evidently 

 paid no attention to matters on the railway, being 

 well used to thunder in that direction, and stood 

 his ground without wincing. 



When he had pumped long enough, and the 

 operation surely looked like pretty hard work, 

 he suddenly took wing and flew a little distance 

 down the meadow. The moment he dropped into 

 the grass he pumped, and on making another 



