Prima 

 Donnas 



Music of the Wild 



blue and forms a rare and graceful addition to 

 marsh flowers. I mean rare in the sense of rarely 

 beautiful. The entire plant is artistic. It attracts 

 bees and insects for its music; the waves come lip- 

 jjing around it, and birds that hunt food near are 

 the feathered giants of the marsh, the real operatic 

 high C singers — the bittern, loon, and blue heron. 

 When the bittern booms, when the loon cries, 

 when the blue heron screams, you hear the Calves 



Marsh aiid the JNIelbas of the marsh; but you must decide 

 for yourself to "\\'hich belongs the palm. The bit- 

 tern and heron are of the same family. The bit- 

 tern is j^lumjjer of body, shorter of beak and leg, 

 with a handsome golden-brown back. A black line 

 begins at each corner of the mouth, passes under 

 the eye, and graduallj^ widens until it meets the 

 corresponding line at the back of the neck. The 

 breast is of creamy white, beautifully outlined in 

 shaded strijics of golden brown. Excepting the 

 Avhite heron, a bird of snow and surpassingly beau- 

 tiful, the breast of the bittern is the most exquisite 

 j)iece of feather-marking in tlie entire heron fam- 

 ily. These birds nest on the ground, and their 

 bony, long-billed bal)ies are very interesting. 



Scientists are yet discussing whether the bittern 



When really booms. Actual contact with the birds, in- 



the Bit- ^^(.j^j Qf i-esearch in ancient authorities, would set- 

 tern Booms • -1 • -oil 

 tie manj^ a smiuar vexing question. hureJy the 



bittern booms. Go live in the haunts of one long 



410 



