150 GEALL.E. 



In the tiiffc of tall and close herbage, not very far from the 

 firm ground, but yet so placed near or rather in the water 

 that you cannot very easily reach it, the bittern may be close 

 all the time, wakeful, noting you well, and holding herself 

 prepared to " keep her castle ;" but you cannot raise her by 

 shouting, or even by throwing stones, the last of which is 

 treason against nature, in a place solely under Nature's do- 

 minion. Wait till the sun is down, and the last glimmer of 

 the twilight has got westward of the zenith, and then return 

 to the place where you expected the bird. 



The reeds begin to rustle with the little winds, in which 

 the day settles accounts with the night ; but there is a shorter 

 and a sharper rustle, accompanied by the brush of rather a 

 powerful wing. You look round the dim horizon, but there 

 is no bird : another rustle of the wing, and another, still 

 weaker and weaker, but not a moving thing between you and 

 the sky around. You feel rather disappointed foolish, if 

 you are daring ; fearful, if you are timid. Anon, a burst of 

 uncouth and savage laughter breaks over you, piercingly, or 

 rather gratingly loud, and so unwonted and odd, that it sounds 

 as if the voices of a bull and a horse were combined, the 

 former breaking down his bellow to suit the neigh of the 

 latter, in mocking you from the sky. 



That is the love-song of the bittern, with which he sere- 

 nades his mate ; and uncouth and harsh as it sounds to you, 

 that mate hears it with far more pleasure than she would the 

 sweetest chorus of the grove ; and when the surprise with 

 which you are at first taken is over, you begin to discover 

 that there is a sort of modulation in the singular sound. As 

 the bird utters it he wheels in a spiral, expanding his voice 

 as the loops widen, and sinking it as they close ; and though 

 you can j ust dimly discover him between you and the zenith, 

 it is worth while to lie down on your back, and watch the 

 style of his flight, which is as fine as it is peculiar. The sound 



