1889. ] Torrey, the ‘Booming’ of the Bittern. 7 
Some years ago Mr. William Brewster mentioned to me that 
he had once detected a Bittern in the act of pumping; and whilst 
preparing this article I wrote to him requesting some account of 
the matter. This he has very kindly sent me, and I conclude my 
paper with his note. His observations, so far as they go, will be 
seen to confirm those of Mr. Faxon and myself in all essential 
particulars. 
‘The only occasion when I have actually seen the Bittern 
‘pump’ was in Rock Meadow, Belmont, Mass., May 16, 1868. 
The bird was well out in the open meadow among short, green 
grass growing in perhaps two inches of surface water. I got 
within less than thirty yards of him before he took alarm and 
crouched. Previous to this he favored me with several per- 
formances in plain sight. He would extend his neck, then draw- 
ing in his head suddenly, would throw it out with a jerk as if he 
were afflicted with violent nausea or were trying to get rid of 
some obstruction in his throat, at the same time uttering the 
peculiar pump-er-lunk. After repeating the movement and its 
accompanying vocal notes several times in rather quick succession, 
he would stand nearly erect for a few moments before beginning 
again. As he stood with his back partly towards me I could not 
see his breast or throat distinctly, but I am sure he did not fill the 
latter with water while I was watching him, for not once did his 
bill descend low enough to get even a hurried sip. 
‘©You are heartily welcome to make any use you see fit of the 
above. Iam sorry it is so meagre, but I was too untrained an 
observer at the time to take very full notes, and twenty years is a 
long time to send the memory back. What little I have said, 
however, is, I am sure, a correct description of the episode.” 
water, with neck drawn in and crop inflated, in a dolce far niente, like a Florentine 
dilettante who in half-slumber listens to the most beautiful melody. This enraptured 
female with half-closed eyes had good cause to admire her richly gifted vz77woso, for he 
was a basso like Lablache. The artist was standing on both feet, his body horizontal 
and his bill in the water, and then a rumbling began, the water spirting about all the 
time. After afew sounds I heard the # of Naumann; the bird lifted his head, threw 
it backward, and thrust his bill into the water, and then he uttered a roar so fearfully 
joud that I was frightened. This explained why some notes, which are heard but 
seldom and only at the beginning, sound so loud: they are those that the bittern pro- 
duces when he has taken the water deep into the neck and throws it out with unusual 
force. The music went on, but the bird no longer threw his head backward, and I 
heard these loud sounds no more.”” I make no comments upon this narrative, being 
entirely at a loss what to say. An extract from it will be found in the ‘Standard Natural 
History, Vol. IV, p. 176. 
