Notes from Field and Study 



147 



me and walked up the bank opposite nne to 

 a growth of thistles and other pasture weeds, 

 There it suddenly struck the erect, motion- 

 ess, slender body attitude so often taken 

 '>y Bitterns when danger threatens and which 

 so effectively camouflages them. When 

 approached the litd remafeed (^taet till I 



trips, with a loaded reflecting camera, made 

 it possible to get a dozen good pictures of 

 this Bittern, some giving me a good record 

 of its concealing behavior and all making 

 important additions to my wild-life negative 

 collection. — T. L. Hankinson, Sfaie N carnal 



.^MEKIC.^N BITTERN POSING 



was wfthTO a dozen or so- feet of \% then it 

 elaxed and started to walk along the creek 

 >ank, always keeping at least this Stance 

 ahead of me and making use of every weed- 

 r>atch for another effort to elude me with a 

 VJHckly assumes? , stationary posture like the 

 one described. Once in a patch of giant rag- 

 weed it very effectively and remarkably 

 eradicated itself, althou^ it was little 

 eclipsed by plant parts. 



The day was cjuiet and sunny and it was 

 near n<»on. These ceaiditicaiSj with the fact 

 that 1 was armed, s& I usually am (mi field 



Bald 'Eeigje& on the Hudson 

 For over forty years, Andrew Templeton 

 has watched the winter visits of the 

 Bald Eagles to the Hudson River at New- 

 bur^ and Beacon, where the ferry be- 

 tween these cities keeps the wafer free from 

 ice in the coldest days. ^Mien the da}?? begin 

 to soften, great fields of ice break off with 

 the changing tides, amd these the ferry cuts 

 into small blocks and eventually a big open 

 space is formed where the Gulls, Mergansers 

 and other Bucks gather aid wait the 

 breaking up (4 the ice. Every year f Iiat these 



