146 The Stork-like Birds 



The American Bittern (B. lentiginosus) is found throughout temperate 

 North America, Guatemala, and Cuba, while the European species (B. stellaris) 

 ranges throughout the temperate parts of the Old World and south to India and 

 Burma. 



The origin of the name Bittern, by which these birds are generally known, is 

 open to more or less doubt, but it is apparently a corruption from some name 

 given in imitation of the very peculiar notes of the birds. " The booming of the 

 Bittern" is a familiar expression, and from the earliest times its notes have been 

 variously likened to the bellowing of cattle, the driving of a stake into swampy 

 ground, the working of an old wooden pump, etc. The English species, now 

 almost unknown in that country, was formerly called Bittour, Bator, Butter- 

 bump, etc., while the American species is quite generally called the Stake-driver. 

 The following extract from Mudie will give some idea of the note of the Euro- 

 pean Bittern: "Anon a burst of savage laughter breaks upon you, 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." Hudson, in his "British Birds," says of the notes, 

 "When flying he utters a harsh, powerful scream, and he has besides a strange 

 vocal performance, called 'booming,' a sound that resembles the bellowing of 

 a bull." 



The American Bittern has no such roar, but produces a sound very sugges- 

 tive indeed of the driving of a stake. Many attempts have been made to repre- 

 sent the notes by syllables, such as pump-augah, as rendered by Nuttall, 

 chunk-a-lunk-chunk, quank chunk-a-lunk-chunk, by Samuels, while according to 

 Bradford Torrey, whom we shall quote later, it is most nearly represented by 

 plum-pudd'ri', giving both vowels the sound of u in full, dwelling a little upon 

 plum, and a strong accent on the first syllable of puddin'. In any event it is a 

 very peculiar voice which possesses also the power of deceiving the hearer as to 

 the position and distance of the performer. When once heard it is not likely to 

 be forgotten. 



The manner in which this curious vocal effort is produced has given rise to 

 most entertaining literature. Some early writers supposed that trte bill was put 

 inside a hollow reed to increase the volume of sound, but the greater number in- 

 sisted that it was made with the bill partly under water, for it sounds, as Audubon 

 well says, "as if the throat was filled with water." I will quote from but one of 

 these accounts, that given by Count Wodzecki of the European species as late as 

 1852. He says in part : "The artist was standing on both feet, his body horizon- 

 tal and his bill in the water, and then a rumbling began, the water squirting about 

 all the time. After a few sounds I heard the u sound; the bird lifted his head, 

 threw it backward, and thrust his bill into the water, and then he uttered a roar 

 so fearfully loud that I was frightened." 



It appears to be quite commonly supposed that our American Bittern pro- 

 duces the "booming" with the bill partially submerged, and a well-known writer 

 on natural history in this country claims to have been an eye-witness to the per- 

 formance, stating that "the bird's beak, when it uttered the cry, was not quite 



