The Specialist Loses Control 307 



But I had never before seen it under the conditions that 

 existed during those January days. Ice topped the water of 

 the lagoons and white fingers had solidified in every shore 

 indentation. Out in the bay the vapor rose as if from Paul 

 Bunyan's soup kettle. The roofs of the houses carried a heavy 

 load of snow. The willows and cotton woods were cased in 

 the sleet of night storms and the heavy hanging branches 

 were white like the snow cover beneath them. I kicked the 

 crusted snow with my ski boots and wondered what a bittern 

 could get to eat in such an area and where it could find suita- 

 ble cover. 



For a bittern is a specialist not only in the art of camou- 

 flage but in its diet as well. It is no vegetarian, but concen- 

 trates on animal diet including snails, shellfish, crayfish, 

 tadpoles, frogs, small bullheads, dragonflies, and other such 

 residents of the area. It is a complete marsh specialist, 

 adapted through the ages and expert in such surroundings. 

 At first sight this manner of living appears to be without flaw 

 or objection— a recognition of the modern idea of narrowing 

 one's life to one phase of one field. In the main I suppose this 

 is satisfactory. I watched the successful operation of the bit- 

 tern for a dozen years and not until this January did I dis- 

 cover that specialization could be subject to severe penalties. 



The penalties were not imposed on the summer residents, 

 the bitterns which practiced their specialty when conditions 

 were favorable: when the marsh growth was full of dark 

 pockets, easy retreats, and with lines and shadows which fol- 

 lowed the bittern pattern and allowed them to pose quietly 

 while other wildlife and man came close to them. At that 

 season a supply of desirable food was available and com- 

 paratively easy to obtain. The problems then were merely 

 those of a bird living in an area for which it was conditioned. 

 But most of those summer residents had left when the marsh 

 began to slump and change color and when the small an- 

 nuals dried in the fall wind. Perhaps only two or three birds 



