CHAPTER VI. 



STRANGE CREATURES WITH STRANGE VOICES. 

 The Bittern, Oivl, Loon, etc. 



A STRANGE sound comes from the meadow swamp 

 down by the pond — " (r-fhug, g-chug, g-ohug. It is 

 the uncanny voice of the bittern or stake-driver (£o- 

 taiii'Kn leiitigi/iiisvx), and if we could see him mating 

 the noise we would exclaim at once, " That bird is 

 beastly ill ! " Such a remarkable performance one 

 never witnessed ; the distressing musical attempt of 

 the crow recorded in the preceding chapter is not a 

 circumstance to this convulsive proceeding of the bit- 

 tern. He " hiccoughs " wildly several times, and then 

 is apparently seized with a most violent fit of nausea, 

 producing with each convulsion a hollow " booming " 

 noise which on most occasions sounds like somebody 

 driving a stake in the ground. This charming music 

 I suppose the naturalist would call the love-song of 

 the bird ; it is certainly most common in April, and 

 its continuance for half an hour or more is perhaps 



accounted for by the indifEerence of the female, who 

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