. Bird-lore . ^^ under dis-cussion. The flag hadalready grown sohigh that it wavedover my head, as Iwaded through themarsh, parting thejungle before such condi-tions ones eyes soonlearn to cease theirsearch for birds, oreven for movementsthat might betraytheir presence, andhunt only for denser spots in the dark green vegetation, that so oftenindicate a nest with the reeds bent over it. I was not surprised, therefore,when a dark spot, suspended eight or ten inches above the black water,led me to the nest of a Least Bittern, containing five eggs. At least, so itappeared to me; but it wa
. Bird-lore . ^^ under dis-cussion. The flag hadalready grown sohigh that it wavedover my head, as Iwaded through themarsh, parting thejungle before such condi-tions ones eyes soonlearn to cease theirsearch for birds, oreven for movementsthat might betraytheir presence, andhunt only for denser spots in the dark green vegetation, that so oftenindicate a nest with the reeds bent over it. I was not surprised, therefore,when a dark spot, suspended eight or ten inches above the black water,led me to the nest of a Least Bittern, containing five eggs. At least, so itappeared to me; but it was more. I parted the flags and counted the eggsbefore I finally perceived that there, on the back of the nest and in perfectlyplain sight, stood the female bird less than three feet from my eyes. Underother circumstances, I should not have called it a bird, such was thestrangeness of the shape which it had assumed. The photograph showing thereed-posture gives one but a poor conception of the birds real appear-. THE MALE LEAST BITTERN ENTERING THE NEST,BALANCING HIMSELF WITH HIS WING The Behavior of the Least Bittern 427 ance at this time. The feathers were fairly glued to the body, and thehead and neck appeared no thicker than some of the dried reeds that com-posed the nest. The bill, pointing directly upward, widened barely appreci-ably into the head and neck, and the feathers of the lower neck were heldfree from the body and compressed to as narrow a point as the bill at theother end. The neck appeared to be entirely separate from the body, whichwas flattened so as to become but a part of the nest itself. There was not amovement, not even a turning of the serpent-like eyes which glared at me overthe corners of the mouth. Every line was stiff and straight, every curve was anangle. It mattered not that all about the vegetation was brilliant green, whilethe bird was buffy brown. It was no more a bird than was the nest below recalled the habit of the American Bittern of rota
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirdsperiodicals
