464 



THE Ai\IERICA^ BITTERN. 



If the fishing is poor, he may venture up into the meadows in search of moles 

 and mice. When suddenly flushed, the bird makes off with a low frightened 

 quawk, on heavy noiseless wings; but if he has a moment's warning, and 

 a ghost of a show at concealment, the bird stretches instead t© an enormous 

 height, holding the long bill vertically, and becomes rigid. In such a posi- 

 tion it requires the closest scrutiny to distinguish the bird from the surround- 

 ing reeds. Even in the open the bird will pose as a stake or a weed, and 

 often quite successfully, relaxing or flying only when the danger is past. 

 When at rest and unsuspicious, as in the heart of the swamp, the Bittern 

 allows his feathers to droop like a rudely thatched roof, and he himself 



looks not unlike a 

 deserted hut, fit em- 

 blem of the melan- 

 choly morass. 

 It is not, 

 however, upon 

 his beauty nor 

 upon his weight 

 that the Bit- 

 tern's reputa- 

 tion rests, but 

 upon his won- 

 derful voice. 

 The moonlight 

 serenade which 

 this ardent lov- 

 er accords his 

 mistress is one 

 of the most out- 

 landish per- 

 formances in 



nature. Take an air-tight hogshead and immerse it suddenly in water with 

 the bung-hole down; then allow the air to escape in great gurgles, say a 

 caskful at a time, and you will get but a faint idea of the terrifying, earth- 

 shaking power of the "Thunder-pump" at close range. Umph-ta-googh, 

 umph-ta-googh, groans this absurd wooer, and the swamp quakes with ap- 

 prehension. The case is serious, for the bird accompanies the cry with a 

 motion which suggests the miseries of the Scriptural whale, and each suc- 

 cessive Jonah has a long way to go before reaching fresh air. Maria likes 

 the noise, of course, and, — well, love is like seasickness at certain stages. 

 The birds also indulge in another note not less strange, but somewhat 

 less startling, — that of a stake smitten by a hammer. Whack -a- whack, 



Taken in Oberlin 



CAPTIVE BITTERN. 



Baird. 



