A Bittern Study 



By AGNES M. LEARNED. Boston, Mass. 



HE tii st time that Ave saw the Bittern at Pleasant Valley Farm was late 

 in the summer of 1906 — too late to study his habits — so we resolved 

 that we would see him as early in the spring as possible. We began to 

 watch for him so early in the season that it seemed as though he would never 

 come; but at last we were rewarded, when, on May S, about 5 o'clock in the 

 afternoon, he made his appearance in the cranberry bog quite near the house. 

 We did not see him fly down, but heard the booming. The whole family had been 

 listening for him, and at the first sound, the news went round that the Bittern 

 had come! The younger members of the family hurried out, down to the edge 

 of the bog, where we could see him very plainly. At our approach he became 

 immovable, and we found that his ability to keep perfectly still was much greater 

 than ours. As we were very anxious to see him at short range when he was boom- 

 ing, we decided that all but one of the party should leave the vantage point 

 behind a big apple tree (which ever after we called the Bittern tree), and thus 

 test the Bittern's ability to count! 



The experiment was a success, and it was only a few moments before he 

 began to grow less rigid (he had been standing all this time with his long neck 

 thrust straight in the air, and, at a distance, looked more like a stick than he did 

 like a bird) ; then, growing more confident, walked about a little, then standing 

 perfectlv still, he gazed at the water and seemed to meditate. 



All at cnce, the feathers on his neck quivered, he looked as though he was 

 taking one or two long, gulping breaths, his bill snapped loudly and quickly, 

 and, with contortions which seemed ludicrous, he said pump-a-hink, pump-a- 

 lunk, pump-a-lunk. Tins was the beginning of our acquaintance with the Bittern, 

 and we never tired of his company. 



For manv davs he arrived about five in the afternoon; for quite a while we 

 wondered how long he stayed, then a wakeful member of the family heard him 

 in the wee sma' hours, and, later, the early riser of the family saw him in the 

 brook that drains the bog. As the season advanced, he boomed with great vigor 

 and many times at each performance; for instance, one evening he boomed 

 seven times in succession; he also became less shy, and one afternoon we had the 

 pleasure of seeing him mount a tussock of grass and perform. Sometimes his 

 booming would sound like an old wooden pump, and sometimes like the driving 

 of a stake. After the Whippoorwill arrived, the night was vocal with their 

 alternate performances, and when, on rare occasions, they performed together, 

 the effect was weird beyond description. 



Although the Bittern came regularly about five o'clock every afternoon, we 

 neither saw nor heard him come or go, for there was no "hurrying sound of 

 wings" to announce his arrival or departure, and it was a marvel to us that so 

 large a bird could flv so silently. One afternoon two of us decided that, if possi- 



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