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the movements of the wings being slow and measured, unless it be suddenly roused from its 

 hiding-place, when it flaps hastily up, but soon settles down again, dropping or throwing itself 

 down amongst the reeds rather suddenly. When walking about, it moves quietly and sedately, 

 stepping as if every step were carefully considered; and it never appears to run. Its long toes 

 are admirably adapted for walking amongst the mud, or moving and climbing through the dense 

 reed-growth ; and it is able to travel considerable distances without descending to the surface of 

 the water in localities where there is a dense growth of reeds or flags in shallow water. It is 

 not a very long-legged bird, and cannot wade in any but very shallow water ; for it rarely 

 immerses any portion of the tibia. Unneighbourly and suspicious in its bearing toward others 

 of its own species, as well as to other birds which may be found in the vicinity of the place it 

 inhabits, one rarely finds more than one pair, except on a larger pond or marsh, where there is 

 plenty of room for several couples to live without coming in the way of each other. 



■ The usual call-note of the Bittern is a clear loud croak, not unlike that of the Night-Heron, 

 and may be heard at night at a great distance. So far as I can make out, it appears to utter this 

 call only when on the wing. But the cry or call of this bird which is best known is that peculiar 

 booming sound uttered by the male bird during the pairing-season. This note, though doubtless 

 it sounds as sweet and soft in the ears of the female as the cooing of the Turtledove does to its 

 mate, is certainly, so far as I can judge, any thing but a musical or pleasant sound; and in the 

 dusk of the evening, when one is alone passing along the edge of a marsh, the distant booming 

 of the Bittern sounds peculiarly uncanny, and one can scarcely wonder at the illiterate peasant 

 who imagines that the morass is haunted by some howling demon when _he hears the deep note 

 of the Bittern. I have never heard the booming of this bird near ; and it is most difficult to 

 approach within any thing like a reasonable distance without the bird stopping his unearthly 

 roar, which consists of two syllables — one a short one as it draws in the air, and the other a 

 longer and louder one as it is again expelled. The booming is most like the deep-toned 

 bellowing of a bull, heard at some distance, but is so loud that one cannot imagine how the 

 bird is able to produce it. In the early spring, when pairing, the booming of the Bittern is 

 heard continually during the night; but when the young are hatched it is gradually dis- 

 continued. 



The food of this bird consists of small fish, water-beetles of various sorts, worms, small 

 crustaceans, frogs, and small mammals such as field-mice ; and it would seem that fish con- 

 stitute their chief article of food; for one finds these more often in the stomach than any 

 thing else. 



The nesting-place is usually chosen in a locality least frequented by human beings, and 

 where the bird is unlikely to be molested; and should a pair find that the place selected is 

 quiet and they have not been disturbed, they are almost sure to return thither the next spring. 

 A dense forest of reeds in the middle of an almost inaccessible morass is a place frequently 

 selected ; but in localities where the bird is not rare, the nesting-places are not unfrequently the 

 reedy portions of secluded ponds. The nest itself is a very careless structure, larger or smaller 

 according to the place where it is built — usually consisting merely of a collection of the blades 

 of dried flags and reeds heaped or partly woven together so as to form a convenient bed for the 

 eggs. It is generally placed amongst the old trodden-down reeds or flags, but occasionally on a 



