canoes, with opera gla; ses leveled steadily,, kept the bird 
under ceaseless observation. Mr. Atone' was within ten yards 
of her; Mrs. Stone and I within twenty yards. At length the 
Bittern straightened up and, holding the Pout in her bill 
by the herd, attempted to swallow it. Failing to do so, she 
shook and stabbed it -one more and then tried again. This 
was repeated about five times 'before the final gulp was made 
ar^d the fish disappeared down the bird’s throat, swelling it 
very co isoicuously for an instant. The general behavior 
and motions of the Bittern while dealing with the Pout 
before eating reminded me forcibly of those of a Grow picking 
at a piece of meat. We all thought it strange that she 
spent so much time in this wry and concluded that she must 
have clone it chiefly for the sake of reducing the resistance 
of the head of the Pout by lacerating it freely, and perhaps 
also breaking some of the long structures in order to make 
it possible to swallow, although the first attacks seemed, 
as I h ve. said, to be for the purpose of killing the fish. 
Altogether, the performance was utterly unlike what I 
• f * ' 
should have expected of a Bittern. For I had always sup¬ 
posed that such fish as the birds capture would be s: allowed 
almost instantly. Perhaps this is the case with many of them, 
But a Pout's head is so hfoad aid bony that it nay require 
just the preliminary treatment we witnessed. After the 
’ittern had thus disposed of her prize, she stood still and 
seemed indisposed to further exertion of any kind, so we 
paddled off and left her to digest her hearty meal. 
