Storks, Herons, and Pelican Tribe 



447 



the order of the clay. This amuseuient is varied by the nestlings clinibing out among the 

 branches till they reach the top of the tree, whence they can have a good look-out, and can 

 see the old birds returning home from a long distance, thougli they are in many cases often 

 mistaken in their identity." 



A common North American bird is the so-called Green Hero.x, known by many local 

 abases, such as " Fly-up-the-Creek/' - Chalk-line," and " Chuckle-head." Seen at sliort range, 

 its plumage is lustrous and 



beautiful, but this disappears ' ' I 



as soon as the bird takes , t , i 



wing. The nest is of very ' ' %i,'- ' 



loose construction ; and a story " ' 



is told of one which was such , ■ 



a sliaky concern that every 

 time the old birds jarred it a 

 stick fell off, and the structure 

 grew smaller and smaller, until 

 the day when the young were 

 ready to fly there were but 

 three sticks left ; finally these 

 jiarted, and the little herons 

 found themselves perching on 

 the branch that once held 

 the nest ! 



The Bitterns. 



These are birds of a re- 

 markable type of coloration, 

 adapted to aid their skulking 

 habits. The coloration partakes 

 so comjiletely of the natm-e of 

 the undergrow-th among which 

 they dwell, that, aided by 

 certain peculiar habits de- 

 scribed below, they succeed in 

 harmonising so perfectly with 

 their surroundings as to render 

 themselves invisible to their 

 enemies. 



The best-known species is 

 the Common Bittern, though 

 this epithet is no longer 

 applicable, for at the jiresent 

 time it is but an occasional 

 yisitant to Britain. Once 

 it was plentiful enough, as the frequent references both in prose and poetry bear witness. 

 These references have been inspired mainly by its very peculiar note, made apparently only 

 during the breeding-season. This sound is variously described as "booming," "bellowing," and 

 "bumping," and many are the theories which have been invented to account for its origin. 

 Thomson, in "The Seasons," says that it is made whilst the beak is thrust into the mud: — 



The bittern knows his time, with bill ingulf'd 

 To shake the sounding marsh. 



Chaucer, that it is caused whilst it is immersed under water; and Dryden represents it as 



IMJIA^ CAliLL LCliL l_ 



i a species of buff-backed heron, and earns its name from its habit of hover 

 for the siike of picking ofl" the ticks by \a hich ttey are infested. 



ing round cattle 



