98 FAMILIAR LIFE IN FIELD AND FOREST. 



lunk, pump-er-luiik, etc. Evidently his bird was a 



"pumper"; but all the bitterns that I have heard 



were "state-drivers," and sang thus, 



the second syllable closely resembling 1 *")'■ Y ^f\ - 



the resounding thwack of a woodman's 



axe as it drives some stout stake in the ground. 



The bird begins operations by raising his head and 

 stretching his neck until the bill is pointed up in the 

 air ; then with three or four preliminary snaps of the 

 bill, which can be heard fully five hundred feet away, 

 ofi he goes on his g-chug, g-chug, g-chug, g-ohug, 

 from four to eight times, when he tires of it and takes 

 a minute to rest ; then — da capo. 



Thoreau alludes to this remarkable bird thus: 

 " The stake-driver is at it again on his favorite 

 meadow. I followed the sound and at last got within 

 two rods. "When thus near, I heard some lower 

 sounds at the beginning like striking on a stump or a 

 stake, a dry, hard sound, and then followed the gur- 

 gling, pumping notes. ... I went to the place, but 

 could see no water." It seems Thoreau, like a good 

 many others, imagined that the bird made the noise 

 with the help of water^liy partly submerging his 

 bill. But all who know the stake-driver and his 

 strange performance now agree that water has noth- 

 ing to do with the case. 



I ha\e heard and seen the bird on the river 



