Music of the Wild 



blue and forms a rare and graeel'id addition to 

 marsli flo^\ers. I mean rare in tlie sense of rarely 

 beautiful. The entire plant is artistic. It attracts 

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

 ping 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 and the JMelbas of the marsli ; but you must decide 



Prima ^'^^ yourself tO M'hicll bcloilgS the palm. The bit- 

 Donnas • . 



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

 tern is 2)hunper 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 gradually widens until it meets the 

 corresponding line at the back of the neck. The 

 breast is of creamy 'white, beautifully outlined in 

 shaded stripes of golden brown. Excepting the 

 white heron, a bird of snow and surj^assingly beau- 

 tiful, the ])reast of the bittern is the most exquisite 

 piece of feather-marking in tlie entire heron fam- 

 ily. These birds nest on tlie ground, and their 

 bony, long-billed babies are very interesting. 



Scientists are yet discussing whether the bittern 

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



the Bit- gt(.j^j Qf 1-esearch in ancient authorities, would set- 

 tern Booms 



tie many a similar vexing question. Surely the 



bittern booms. Go li\'e in the haunts of one long 



4.10 



