1893
June 19
(No 3)     
Say brook Ferry, Conn.

been easily taken when at rest.                                                                  
Returning to the nest first found I found that another
of the eggs had hatched during my last visit only an
hour or so before.
[margin]Nest of the Least Bittern[/margin]

All three nests were built among dead cat tails
of last years growth about 2 ft. above the ground &
a little below the point where the stalks had been
broken down by the winters [?[  In each case these
broken down stalks found a [?] over the nest.
there were also plenty of green stalks of this season's
growth rising among the dead flags to a height six or eight feet above the muddy ground.
Two nests were slight ie thin-plat forms of dead flags.
the third was nearly a foot thick vertically & also
composed of dead flags. We stashed? five or six of the
old birds driving our beat but saw [?] my near
the nest. On going further up the creek in the boat
we startled a pair from the edge of the water where
they were evidently fishing.
These Bitterns when flushed in or near the flags
rose feebly like Rails & flew only a few yards before dropping among
the flags but those that in found on the meadow
took longer flights (one went fully 200 yds)  [?] which
the legs were stretched out behind, the neck [?] in and
the wings beaten rapidly & strongly like a Green Heron's the
flight being swift & firm for a Heron. Each bird on rising
especially if surprised & startled uttered a succession of
cacs or cucks, the tone varying somewhat. At time this outcry
closely resembled that of a Red-winged Blackbird, at others?
it was more like that of a startled Botaurus lentiginosus.
The Least Bittern is evidently [?] in its habits. We
saw several flying from place to place at midday