BITTERNS 
At night the buff-black least bittern often stands motionless in the shallows 
among the reeds by the water’s edge, waiting to spear a passing fish with its 
bill. On catching its victim, it often mauls it before eating it. Through the 
night the common bittern’s call is heard, first a loud tapping like a mallet 
striking a stake, then a booming sound like water being poured from a large 
jug. Naturalists have variously indicated this latter note as chunk-a-lunk 
and ooble-ooh. 
In addition to fishes, bitterns eat small mammals, birds, shell-fish, in¬ 
sects and worms, all of which they digest with remarkable speed. In the 
air, they carry the head drawn back on the shoulders; their flight is labored 
and rather slow. Bitterns are most at home when running and climbing 
among the aquatic plants by the shore, or lurking in the rushes. They perch 
with ease, often assuming an upright position with the bill held vertically 
down. In this pose their mottled color blends with the surrounding rushes, 
rendering them almost invisible to the hunter. 
Bitterns build their nests in swamps by crushing down reeds for a 
foundation and constructing a loose mat of softer grasses above it. Here, 
three to five eggs are laid. The domestic life of bitterns is extremely noisy, 
attended by much hissing and screaming. 
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