The Music of the Marsh 



enough to become sufficiently familiar to photo- 

 graph him, and by that time j"ou ^vill have learned 

 for yoru'self. You also will find that his boom 

 does closely resemble the low, distant rumble of an 

 angry bull, and that, although ])artly nocturnal 

 when breeding, and freciuently throughout the en- 

 tire season, he sometimes booms during the day, 

 and is in evidence while bathing and fishing, ^^"e 

 gravely are told by more than one old-school orni- 

 thologist that he feeds only at night and booms 

 only during the breeding season, always under 

 cover of darkness. If he could not be heard fre- 

 quently around the marsh during the summer, and 

 pictured as he feeds at almost any hour of the day, 

 this might be given credence. In fact hunters and 

 fishers sometimes remark, "AVe must look out for 

 a bull," when it is the rumbling "Umm-umm- 

 umm" of the bittern they hear. 



It is on account of this l)oom that in l)ackwood 

 localities he is called the "thunder-pumper." The 

 boom supplies the "thunder." The "pumj^er" The 

 arises from the fact that he is supposed to have 

 an extra intestine running straight through his 

 anatomy; he thrusts his beak into a small puddle 

 he wishes to explore for worms, and with a "ca- 

 chook! ca-chook!" jiumps off the water and feasts 

 at his leisure. There are places where tliis belief 

 is so firm that it would be unwise to appear to 

 think it amusing. The only method by which to 



413 



Thunder 

 Pumper 



