1873.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
253 
The Bittern or Stake-driver. 
Birds of the Heron family are quite sure to 
attract popular attention on account of their 
large size and their striking form. Their long 
legs are formed for . 
wading, and their \ f. __ * ; 
long and hard bills _^ g ^ jE fe3u 3fc 
indicate that they 
are adapted to catch 
living prey. The 
plumage of some is 
noticeable and val- 
ued for its beauty. 
Our commonest re- 
presentative of this 
family is the Bittern 
or Stake - driver — 
Botaurun lentigino- 
sis of the ornitho- 
logists — 'which is 
found all over North 
America. The 
length of this bird 
is 264 inches ; its 
bill is 2i inches 
long. Its general 
color is a brownish 
yellow, which is 
mottled with dark 
brown and brown- 
ish red ; upon each 
side of the neck there is a broad black stripe 
which starts behind the ear. This is less noc- 
turnal in its habits than most others of the 
Heron family, and is therefore more frequently 
seen. It is especially common in the northern 
New England States, arriving from the South 
in March and April, and remaining until Oc- 
tober. Its food is fishes, frogs, and probably 
small mammals, and insects, which it pursues 
with great industry. Like others of its family, 
it is social during the breeding season, but soli- 
tary at other times. A dozen or more pairs 
will build their nests within a small area. Their 
nests are built of 
twigs, leaves, and 
grass, and are placed 
on low bushes or 
on thick tufts of 
grass. The eggs 
are usually four, of 
a rich drab color. 
This bird gets the 
name of Stake- 
driver from the 
peculiar note of the 
male at the breed- 
ing season, which 
is so like the sound 
made by driving a 
stake with a mallet, 
that persons have 
been deceived by it, 
and in endeavoring 
to find the work- 
man have been led 
into the swampy 
haunt of the birds. 
One author renders 
the note of the bird 
as cTtunk -a- lunk- 
chunk, rp)rtnk-cliuak-a-hinl--clmnk. The young I 
birds are able to take care of themselves in 
August, when the colony breaks up. An. "ml, on 
seems to have known but little about this very 
common bird, as in all his experience lie never 
fouud a nest. He says that the bird is ex- 
tremely timid, and that upon several occasions 
he has come upon them suddenly, and they 
were so frightened that he could knock them 
down with an oar. When wounded, they 
show fight, especially if a dog is present, and 
with their large bill they are capable of iu- 
BITTERN OR STAKE-DRIVER. 
dieting severe wounds, and prove themselves 
no insignificant antagonists when attacked. 
The Red-wins; Blackbird. 
It is a pity that so handsome a bird as the 
Red-wing or Swamp Blackbird should have a 
bad character. When the farmer counts up his 
feathered friends this bird is not among them. 
He has reason to regard this bird as his enemy 
when he is obliged with "force and arms" to 
drive it, away from his grain-fields. The male 
appearance at the north in March, and nest- 
building commences in May. The nest is upon 
low bushes growing in or overhanging the 
water, or in a tussock of sedge; it is built of 
coarse grasses and leaves, and lined with finer 
grasses. The eggs are four to six, light blue, 
mottled with brown. 
Usually there are 
two broods in a 
season, and when 
the last brood has 
left the nest the 
various families join 
and form large 
,_ flocks of one to two 
. hundred. This is 
the time of tribula- 
tion to the farmer, 
-,' as the birds give 
his grain-fields no 
W quarter. It is said 
B that localities near 
the sea-coast are 
m more infested by 
g them than far in- 
land, and that flocks 
containing a thou- 
sand birds are not 
rare. Of course, 
the farmer lias, iu 
self-defense, to use 
powder and shot to 
defend his crops, 
and by the lime the birds start southward, in 
October, their numbers are materially di- 
minished. Some set poison to destroy the 
birds, but this is not to be commended. 
'KWffi 
■€ 
RED-WING Oil SWAMP BLACKBntD. 
is a very showy bird ; its plumage is a shining 
velvet black, with a greenish reflection, and its 
shoulders are of a bright vermilion red. The 
female wears a less showy dress, the prevailing 
colors being brown and brownish yellow, with 
while on the under p ills. This bird makes its 
Impregnation of Eggs. — " M. K. W.," 
Marietta, Ohio. The process of the impregna- 
tion of eggs is one that we know but little 
about, and one on which intelligent farmers can 
do much to enlighten themselves and others by 
close and accurate observation. It is generally 
supposed that hens' eggs require each a distinct 
impregnation. It is 
known that turkeys' 
eggs reauire but one 
impregnation to fer- 
tilize the whole con- 
tents of the ovary 
for one season. It 
is therefore unneces- 
sary for a farmer 
to keep a turkey- 
cock if he can pro- 
cure its services on 
one single occasion. 
In England, tur- 
key-cocks are loan- 
ed or hired in this 
way regularly. Pro- 
fessor Agassiz re- 
cently mentioned in 
one of his lectures 
that it had been 
stated that a turkey 
hen which lost her 
nest of eggs would 
lay another setting 
which would be 
fertile without the 
repeated presence of the male turkey, but that 
he could not vouch for it ; if true, it was an in- 
teresting fact which lie would desire to have de- 
termined. Any well authenticated cases of such 
an occurrence within the experience of any of 
our readers would be received by us with thanks. 
m ■ 
