112 



NESTS AND EGGS OF 



to 58° or 60°, and breeds chiefly from the middle districts northward, wintering 

 thence southward. The name last mentioned is occasioned by its hoarse, gurgling 

 cry of alarm. The bird is often spoken of by the poets as the "booming bittern." In 

 the breeding season it has a "love note" that resembles the stroke of a mallet on a 

 stake, chunk-a-hink-chunk, guank-chunk-a-lunk-oUunk. Few ornithologists have actu- 

 ally seen a Bittern "pump." One of the best accounts ever written of the Bittern's 

 "pumping" is that by Frank H. Nutter, a civil engineer who observed the performance 

 in a marsh in Minnesota. It appears in the "Oologist's Exchange" for April, 1888 

 {Vol. I, No. 4), which was among the prize essays on bird life, and the writer was ap- 

 pointed judge.'.") It has been quoted frequently since its first appearance. So many 

 new and original observations were advanced by Mr. Nutter that I was compelled to 

 award him the prize without previously knowing from whom the MS. came. This is 

 one of the observations: "By the way, did you ever see a Bittern while engaged in 

 its serenade?- It is a ludicrous performance. One favored me with it within easy 

 range of my telescope. After standing in a meditative position for some time it 

 would slowly raise its head and stretch up its neck till its bill pointed nearly straight 

 upwards, when it commenced by several times opening and shutting its big beak 

 with a snap that was plainly heard, though five or Six hundred feet distant; it then 

 uttered the characteristic notes from which it takes its common name of 'Stake 

 Driver' or 'Thunder Pumper'; and truly it seems much like pumping, for each syl^ 

 lable seems to originate de«p in the interior of the bird and to be ejected only with 

 the greatest muscular exertion, puffing out its feathers and working its long neck up 

 and down, as if .choking to death. After a short season of meditation to recuperate 

 its strength, the performance is again repeated, and doubtless to its mate, engaged 

 in her maternal duties, is the sweetest of music." The American Bittern never as- 

 sociates with other species of Heron and is not even fond of the society of its own 

 kind. It does not breed in colonies and the nest is difficult to discover. It inhabits 

 almost impenetrable swampy places: the bog, the reedy marsh, and the tangled 

 brake, where its nest is placed on the ground. The eggs are brownish-drab or 

 Isabella color, unspotted, elliptical in shape, three to five in number, but generally 

 only three; size from 1.90 to 2.00 long by about 1.50 broad. 



191. LEAST BITTERN. Ardetta exilis (Gmel.) " Geog. Dist.— Temperate 

 North America, from the British Provinces to the West Indies and South America. 



An extremely interesting little bird, of quiet, retiring habits. Breeds through- 

 out its range. In some places as many as a dozen or twenty pairs breed along the 



grassy shores of a small lake or 

 pond. Like the last it inhabits 

 reedy swamps and marshes where 

 the quagmire abounds with a lux- 

 uriant growth of rushes, which is 

 also the home of the Rails. The nest 

 is placed on the ground or in the 

 midst of the rankest grass, or in a 

 bush. It is often placed on fioating 

 bog, and is simply a platform of 

 dead rushes. The bird has many 

 odd habits. When standing on the 

 edge of a stream, with its neck 

 drawn in, it is often taken for a 

 woodcock, the long bill giving it this 

 appearance. It appears so stupid at 

 times that it may be caught with 

 the hand. The bird is mostly seen 

 just before or after sunset. In 

 many of the Southern States this 

 species rears two broods in a season, 

 fresh eggs having been obtained in 

 May and in August. In Texas, Mr.. 

 Rachford says, it nests along the 

 191. Least Bititekh. 



