The American Bittern, though shy and retiring, always makes his presence known, and any one who 
has lived long in the neighborhood of a swamp inhabited by these birds is familiar with their peculiar 
and gloomy cry, not at all unlike in sound, some ancient bullfrog; not that the one could be mistaken 
for the other, but that the same booming, hollow sound characterizes them both. 
For many years I looked in vain for the nest of one of these birds, though living on the borders of 
a swamp inhabited by them. I think now that I was in the habit of seeking them on ground that was 
too high and dry, for of late years they seem easy enough to discover, though the birds are not as 
plentiful as heretofore. They are somewhat gregarious in their habits, at least at nesting time, in so much 
that when the birds are at all abundant, if one nest be found others are sure to be near by. I once had 
one of these birds for a long time in captivity, and some of his antics were very amusing. Once or twice 
I caught him in the act of uttering his strange booming cry, when he would squat quite close to the 
ground, draw in his neck as if gathering a long breath, then straightening himself up and stretching his 
neck, his throat would swell out and forth would come the strange call. This bird was omnivorous, at 
least he soon became so, and would eat a meal of potatoes, bread, and other vegetable food with as much 
gusto as that of fish or meat. 
As regards the American Bittern as an article of food, Frank Forester says: “Though a very 
common and extremely beautiful bird, it is the object of a very general and perfectly inexplicable 
prejudice and dislike, common it would seem to all classes. T-he gunner never spares it, although it is 
perfectly inoffensive; and although the absurd prejudice to which I have alluded, causes him to cast it 
aside, when killed, as uneatable carrion, its flesh is in reality very delicate and juicy, and still held in high 
repute in Europe; while here one is regarded very much in the light of a cannibal, as I have myself 
experienced, for venturing to eat it. The farmer and the boatman stigmatize it by a filthy and indecent 
name. The cook turns up her nose at it, and throws it to the cat; for the dog, wiser than his ^master, 
declines it — not as unfit to eat, but as game , and therefore meat for his masters. Now the Bittern would 
probably not be much aggrieved at being voted carrion, provided his imputed carrion-dcwi, as Willis would 
probably designate the condition, procured him immunity from the gun. But to be shot first and thrown 
away afterward, would seem to be the very excess of that condition described by the common phrase 
of adding injury to insult. 
“ If, when struck down from his pride of place by the crooked-beaked blood-hound of the air, as in days 
of old, his legs mercilessly broken, and his long bill thrust into the ground, that the falcon might dispatch 
him without fear of consequences, and at leizure, it was doubtless a source of pride to him, as to the 
tortured Indian at the stake, to be so tormented, since the amount of torture was commensurate with the 
renown of the tortured; besides — for which the Bittern was, of course, truly grateful — it was his high and 
extraordinary prerogative to have his legs broken as • aforesaid, and his long bill thrust into the ground, 
by the fair hand of the loveliest lady present — thrice blest Bittern of the days of old. 
“A very different fate, in sooth, from being riddled with a charge of double Bs from a rusty flint- 
lock Queen Anne’s musket, poised by the horney paws of John Verity, and then ignobly cast to fester in 
the sun, among the up-piled eel-skins, fish-heads, king-crabs, and the like, with which, in lieu of garden- 
patch or well trained rose-bush, the south-side Long Islander ornaments his front door-yard, rejoicing in 
the effluvia of the said decomposed piscine exuvice, which he regards as ‘considerable hullsome’ beyond 
Sabsean odors, Syrian hard, or frankincense from Araby the blest ! ” 
When wounded, it makes vigorous resistance, extends its wings, erects the feathers on its head and 
neck, and assumes a fierce warlike expression, and will attack in self defense man or dog, and with deadly 
aim directs the blows of its sharp pointed beak for the assailant’s eyes. 
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