46 Bird -Lore 



but both performances are ordinarily reserved for the morning and evening 

 twilight or for nights when there is a nearly full moon. 



Unlike the Snipe, which pass further north to breed, the Bittern is a 

 summer resident of our marshes. He sometimes arrives in March, but his 

 presence is likely to be overlooked until about the middle of April, when he 

 begins to make it evident to the dullest ears by his stentorian voice — louder 

 and, perhaps, also more remarkable than that of any other wild creature 

 found in eastern Massachusetts. Standing in an open part of the meadow, 

 usually half concealed by the surrounding grasses, he first makes a succes- 

 sion of low clicking or gulping sounds accompanied by quick opening and 

 shutting of the bill and then, with abrupt contortions of the head and 

 neck unpleasantly suggestive of those of a person afflicted by nausea, 

 belches forth in deep, guttural tones, and with tremendous emphasis, a 

 pump-er-lunk repeated from two or three to six or seven times in quick 

 succession and suggesting the sound of an old-fashioned wooden pump. 

 All three syllables may be usually heard up to a distance of about 400 yards, 

 beyond which the middle one is lost and the remaining two sound like the 

 words pump -up or plum-pudd'n while at distances greater than half a mile 

 the terminal syllable alone is audible, and closely resembles the sound pro- 

 duced by an axe stroke on the head of a wooden stake, giving the bird its 

 familiar appellation of " Stake Driver." 



At the height of the breeding season the Bittern indulges in this ex- 

 traordinary performance at all hours of the day, especially when the 

 weather is cloudy, and he may be also heard occasionally in the middle of 

 the darkest nights, but his favorite times for exercising his ponderous voice 

 are just before sunrise and immediately after sunset. Besides the snapping 

 or gulping and the pumping notes the Bittern also utters, usually while fly- 

 ing, a nasal haink and a croaking ok-ok-ok-ok. 



Belonging to the same family as the Bittern but differing widely from 

 it — as well as from each other — in voice and habits, are the Night Heron 

 and the Green Heron. The former species was once very common in the 

 Fresh Pond marshes but is fast deserting them. A few birds remain with 

 us through the winter but the majority arrive early in April and depart be- 

 fore November. As it name implies the Night Heron is inactive by day 

 but in the evening twilight, as well as throughout the darkest nights, we 

 hear over the marshes the deep, hoarse quawk which it gives every half 

 minute or so while flying. Besides this call it makes at times a variety of 

 loud, raucous sounds, some of which have been compared to the cries of a 

 person suffering strangulation. The Green Heron rarely appears in our 

 latitude before the 20th of April. It is still a common summer resident of 

 the Fresh Pond marshes and being diurnal in its habits and by no means shy 

 it is oftener seen there than either of the other Herons just mentioned. In 

 addition to the abrupt and rather startling scow which is its ordinary call, 



