THE BITTERN 



cealed that had it not been for the 

 flushing of the bird its presence would 

 have never been detected and this ar- 





tide would have remained unwritten. 



It being rather late in the day, I 



made two exposures with my camera, 



giving one plate a few seconds more 

 time than the other. Both of them, 

 however, came out very nicely with 

 but slight an advantage to the one 

 here presented. 



The nest was composed entirely of 

 long dry grass, the eggs were grass- 

 stained and somewhat discolored, but 

 presented a beautiful appearance in 

 the nest. 



Having made a few entries in my 

 note book, I came way, leaving the 

 nest of treasures to the rightful owner 

 and bringing home with me a picture 

 that will outlive not only the mother 

 of that precious home, but the writer 

 as well. 



CHUCK WILL'S WIDOW 



BY ALBERT F. GAMER 



While in Jefferson county, Missis- 

 sippi, I found the Chuck Will's Widow 

 a very common resident. 



They would begin to call about half- 

 past six o'clock in the evening and 

 would keep it up until half-past eight; 

 after that time only a few calls could 

 be heard until daybreak, when the 

 woods would again seem to be alive 

 with them. 



The notes could not be better de- 

 scribed than with the words, ehuch 

 will's widow ^ the last note being 

 "jerked" out much quicker than the 

 first two. 



After timing several I find that from 

 two to six seconds elapse between each 

 call and that the bird takes a rest at 

 the end of from fifteen to twenty-five 

 calls. 



At a distance only the last two notes 

 can be heard, and on a still night they 

 can be heard a mile. 



The calling notes begin to lessen 

 from the first of July and by the fif- 

 teenth no more are heard. 



A typical nest was found by myself 

 on June 12 in a thick woods on the 

 side of a gently sloping hill. The two 

 eggs, which were unusually small, 

 were laid on the plain leaves, and so 

 closely did they resemble them that 

 one standing over the nest could not 

 distinguish the eggs from the leaves. 

 I find that the females never make any 

 attempt to make a nest; they do not 

 even pile the leaves together. 



The first young of the year were 

 seen on June 22. As I was walking 

 along near the edge of a woods I 



