THE FOREST lyc; 



dawn, less commonly the "pumping." Both of 

 these terms accurately describe the nuptial "song" 

 of this bird. When near at hand the bittern's 

 song resembles the sound of an old farm)ard 

 pump in action — kcr-chunk^ kcr-chunk. One can 

 even hear a preliminary gurgling. At a distance, 

 only one of the notes is heard which sounds for 

 all the world like the blow of a mallet on a post 

 — like stake-driving in the marsh. 



Occasionally a Maryland yellow-throat sings in 

 the night or a kingbird indulges in his peculiar 

 song and dance which he is also prone to do in 

 the late evening when the light is so poor that 

 he is hardly visible. It is a zig-zag and erratic 

 dance, a dart this way and then that, high up 

 in the air, with an accompaniment of double 

 screams, harsh to our ear, but pleasing, doubtless, 

 to his mate. 



In the dusk of spring evenings the song of the 

 greater yellow-legs, comes up from the salt 

 marshes, and one may get a glimpse through the 

 trees of the long-legged birds stalking about in 

 the sloughs or flashing out their strikingly white 



