1889. | Torrey, the ‘Booming’ of the Bittern. 3 
When our bird had been at work for perhaps half an hour a 
train of cars came along, and as we were sitting squarely upon the 
track, we of course had to move. This we thought would put 
an end to the show; but the Bittern held his ground, and as soon 
as the train had thundered by resumed his amusement, which 
looked, I am bound to say (and I doubt whether anybody could 
see it without receiving the same impression), unpleasantly like 
the contortions of a seasick patient. Between the acts he put 
himself into various positions; frequently assuming the hump- 
backed attitude in which the artists have commonly represented 
him ; at other times raising his long neck straight into the air, 
his body with it, and standing as erect and statue-like as any 
soldier. Now he faced us; then he stood sidewise; and again 
he fairly turned his back on us. He was twelve and a half rods 
away, as nearly as we could tell by pacing; and our opera-glasses, 
magnifying three diameters, reduced the distance to about seventy 
feet, while the sun’s position was such as to afford us every 
possible advantage. 
This exhibition lasted for something more than an hour, after 
which the bird suddenly took wing, and flew down the meadow 
for a short distance, and on alighting in the grass pumped im- 
mediately! Within a few minutes he rose again, and again 
pumped instantly upon alighting. This I thought surprising, in 
view of the great exertion required, both in rising from the ground 
and in pumping; but it is, perhaps, analogous to the habit of 
smaller birds, who in times of excitement are given to breaking 
out into song the moment they strike the perch. 
As we walked down the railroad, on our way back to the 
station, three Bitterns were in the air at once, and at the same 
moment a fourth was making music in the meadow on the other 
side of the track. One of the flying birds persistently let his legs 
dangle, instead of drawing them up behind him in the ordinary 
manner. He was high in the air, and I suspected was engaged 
in showing off, though I have never read of the Bittern’s having 
any such custom. 
The second musician, as good luck would have it, was a stake- 
driver. The imitation was as remarkable in this case as in the 
other, and the difference between the two performances was 
manifest instantly to both Mr. Faxon and myself. The middle 
syllable of the second bird was a veritable whack upon the head 
