68 NOTES ON NEW ENGLAND BIRDS 



dry woods of oak or pine, through glistening oak woods 

 (their fresh leaves in the June air), where the yellow- 

 throat (or black-throat? 1 ) was heard and the wood 

 thrush sang, and, as I passed a swamp, a bittern 

 boomed. As I stood quite near, I heard distinctly two 

 or three dry, hard sucks, as if the bird were drawing 

 up water from the swamp, and then the sounds usually 

 heard, as if ejecting it. 



May 28, 1858. From time to time I hear the sound 

 of the bittern, concealed in the grass, indefinitely far 

 or near, and can only guess at the direction, not the 

 distance. I fail to find the nest. 



June 17, 1858. The stake-driver comes beating along, 

 like a long, ungainly craft, or a revenue cutter, looking 

 into the harbors, and if it finds a fisherman there, stand- 

 ing out again. 



Aug. 19, 1858. We scare up a stake-driver several 

 times. The blue heron has within a week reappeared in 

 our meadows, and the stake-driver begins to be seen 

 oftener, and as early as the 5th I noticed young summer 

 ducks about ; the same of hawks, owls, etc. This occurs 

 as soon as the young birds can take care of themselves, 

 and some appear to be very early on the return south- 

 ward, with the very earliest prospect of fall. Such birds 

 are not only more abundant but, methinks, more at lei- 

 sure now, having reared their family, and perhaps they 

 are less shy. Yes, bitterns are more frequently seen now 

 to lift themselves from amid the pontederia or flags, 

 and take their sluggish flight to a new resting-place, — 



1 [The black-throated bunting 1 , or diokoissel, formerly a common 

 bird in the Cape Cod region of Massachusetts.] 



