THE LEAST BITTERN 69 



was protected. Her Ijriglit yellow eyes glared with 

 tlie intensity of a snake's, and her reptilelike appear- 

 ance was increased by the length and slenderness of 

 her head and neck. Her courage was admirable ; 

 she not only dis]dayed no fear, but was actuallj' 

 aggressive, and with a hissing hah struck viciously 

 at my hand each time it was placed near the nest. 

 As I quickly retreated on eacli occasion, and at 

 length made no further move toward her, she de- 

 cided to withdraw, perhaps to join her cautious mate, 

 who from the reeds had been uttering a warning /;;/- 

 tut-tut at intervals. Very slowly and watchfully she 

 left the nest, and when she had advanced a few feet 

 through the reeds I again ventured to touch her 

 platform home, putting my hand, however, under 

 it; but the motion instantly attracted her attention, 

 and, darting back to her xiost, she was on guard in a 

 moment. Then I left her, retiring from the held 

 fairly vanciuished in my first hand-to-bill encounter 

 with a wild bird. I hope she laid a full complement 

 of five eggs and from them reared five birds worthy 

 representatives of their mother. 



A desire to renew my acquaintance with — or per- 

 haps I should say advances toward— this unbird- 

 like feathered bijied, and to meet it under conditions 

 more favorable for the camera hunter, brought me 

 the following year (June IT, 1800), to the Montezuma 

 marshes at the head of Cayuga Lake. Here are 

 endless forests of cat-tails in which dwell not only 

 Bitterns, Long-billed ILirsh Wrens, and Red-winged 

 Blackbirds, Imt also numbers of Pied-billed Grebes 

 and Florida Gallinules. 



