TIIK T.EAST BITTERN AND SOME OTHER REED 

 INHABITANTS 



Y experience witli tlie Least Bittern 

 leaves the eerie little creature a 

 lialf-Rolved mystery, and I think of 

 it less as a bird than as a survivor 

 of a former geological period, when 

 birds still showed traits of their 

 nctt distant reptilian aiacestors. 

 The Bittern's home is in fresh-water, cat-tail 

 marshes, and he wanders at will through the thickly 

 set forest of reeds without of necessity putting foot 

 to the water below (ir flajiping wing in the air above. 

 His peculiar mode of j^rogression constitutes (,)ne of 

 his chief characteristics. The reeds in which he 

 lives generally grow in several feet of water, fa.r too 

 deep, therefore, to permit of his wailiiig ; while his 

 secretive disposition makes him a\'erse to appearing 

 in the open, except after nightfall. It is impossible 

 to fly through the cat-tails, and so the bird walks 

 and (^v(!ii runs through them, ste]i])iug from stem to 

 stem with suri)rising agility. I had heard of this 

 habit, but the description conveyed as little idea of 

 the Ijird's appearance as it is feared this one will, 

 and when for the first time a Least Bittern was seen 

 striding off through the rr-eds aboui- three feet aI)ove 

 the wale)-, the perfornuiuce was si_> entirely unlike 



