118 
THE NIDOLOGIST 
The American Bittern. 
READ BEFORE THE COOPER ORNITHOLOGICAT, CLUB 
HE American Bittern, or ‘*Thunder 
Pump,’’ as it is usually called, is a 
common bird in suitable localities all 
over thestate of Illinois, though very few, 
except enthusiastic collectors, have ever 
met it, and few of them have anything like 
an intimate acquaintance with it. To me 
it is by far the most interesting of my 
feathered friends. 
Since a small boy I had looked in vain 
for its nest, until the spring of 1892, when 
on a visit to the large swamps in the north- 
ern part of this county (Henry) I struck it 
rich, though in ’92 the same ground had 
failed to afford me a single nest. 
About the 15th of May of ’93I1 received a. 
letter from ‘‘Ikey,’’ saying he had found a 
nest of the ‘‘Thunder Pump’’ with one 
egg. Soon the 21st I found myself in the 
swamps filled with great expectations. 
These ‘‘swamps’’ are two in number, 
each about four or five miles long and from 
one to three miles wide, separated by a 
strip of sand hills and low ground, perhaps 
a mile wide. ‘This strip of low land con- 
tains a number of ponds, and in these I 
found most of the nests. 
The first set was taken on the 22nd of 
May. It was of five eggs, nearly fresh. 
The nest was by far the best of any I saw. 
It was about 2 feet long, 18 inches wide, 
and 8 inches deep, situated in a small open 
place in a pond with over 4 feet of water, 
and supported on the tops ofa clump ot dead 
rushes—broken to the top of the water. 
The nest was of the rushes taken from about 
this clump, leaving the open space. The 
birds were both near the nest. 
This pond was covered, like all the others, 
with a dense growth of cane rushes and 
grass. The second nest was foundina large 
pond a short distance away, and contained 
six eggs, nearly fresh, only one or two show- 
ing signs of incubation. I had been well 
content with sets of ten Coots and thirteen 
of the King Rail, but when I waded out to 
where Keener was waiting for me, he took 
my breath away by saying he had not done 
very well—‘‘only a set of fifteen King Rails 
and six of those ‘Tilla-ma-loo’ birds’ eggs.”’ 
The nest was a shallow platform of dry 
rushes ina thick clump of green rushes, 
over about 18 inches of water. 
This pond was covered with grass and 
rushes and was about ten acres in extent, 
with water about 18 inches deep. At this 
time Coots, Gallinules, King Rails, Bitterns 
and a few Ducks made it their home. 
““George’’ found the third set of Bittern’s 
in a small pond near the main marsh, some 
days before, when it held but one egg. As 
usual,it was in a thick clump of rushes over 
water. It was avery flimsy affair, just 
sufficient to hold the eggs, which were about 
4 inches above the water. 
The evening before, while out with the 
hounds after a wolf, I had seen a pair ot 
Bitterns chasing eachs other about in the 
edge of the swamp, and judged from their 
actions they had a nest near by; so George 
and I went after it. We had given it up 
and George had started for home when I 
heard him laughing. Ihurried to him, and 
when I got there I laughed too, for there 
was the old Bittern on her nest, and no old 
hen could make more fuss than she—scold- 
ing, her bill open to its widest extent, head 
drawn back and feathers all ruffled. She 
was acomical sight. Holding out my bas- 
ket for her to bite, I caught her by the neck 
and gave her to George. We were disap- 
pointed,as she only had two eggs;so George 
carried her to the house and put her in a 
barrel, where we got one more egg next 
day, but that was all she would lay. 
I would advise anyone to grab quick if 
they are going to fool with live Bitterns and 
to keep a good grip on the neck, as they 
can strike an awful blow. 
This nest was in the edge of the main 
swamp, about 100 yards out, and over but 
3 inches of water. It was the only nest I 
found in the main swamp. 
My next visit to the swamp was on the 
14th of June, but I found it rather late for 
Bitterns. Most of the eggs found were 
ready to hatch, so I got only two sets offour 
each, one from the large pond and the other 
from the pond where the set of five was 
taken. They were perhaps by the same 
birds. 
The first nest was found by the bird 
“scolding”? a dog, and she remained on the 
nest until I was ready to pick her up, when 
she flew a few feet away. This nest was 
well concealed in the grass and rushes, by 
this time grown to a height of two or three 
feet above the water. It was merely a 
shallow platform. 
The other set was taken near the spot 
where the first set was taken, and probably 
from the same birds, but the nest was the 
usual slight platform, while the first was a 
very well made affair. 
