Identifier: birdlore101908nati (find matches)
Title: Bird lore
Year: 1899 (1890s)
Authors: National Committee of the Audubon Societies of America National Association of Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals National Audubon Society
Subjects: Birds Birds Ornithology
Publisher: New York City : Macmillan Co.
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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charm of the Bittern drew us often to the pond, and one day when therewas no wind to ruffle the water and no clouds to dull the reflections, we seatedourselves to admire the natural beauties of the place. The trees, shrubs and rockson the opposite side of the pond were perfectly reflected in its mirror-like surface,and we were lost in admiration of the scene, and almost forgot the Bittern, whensuddenly we realized that she was part of the landscape. How daintily she moved,picking her way in and out between the rocks, at times so perfectly reflected inthe water that we could see the markings on the feathers. She was in no hasteand would lift her foot out of the water in such a way that there was not a ripplemade. When she reached a point exactly opposite us, she seemed to realizethat she was being watched and flew slowly back to the head of the pond, which,with its muddy margin, made an excellent feeding ground, and it was herethat we flushed the Bittern for the last time that season.
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A Bittern Photograph (See preceding page) I SEND you by this mail a print from a negative made by myself at Nipper-sink Lake, 111., on June 8, 1907, of an American Bittern on its nest. Whilepushing a boat through some marsh vegetation in this lake, I discoveredthe bird as seen in the picture. I was accompanied by students in bird-studyfrom the University of Chicago. We approached the nest carefully, taking pic-tures at two or three intervals and constantly expecting the bird to fly. Finally,we drew our boats up within a few feet of the nest. I had, unfortunately, used my last plate, but was able to borrow a camerafrom a student. The camera being of strange model, several minutes were re-quired in getting ready for a picture. This one was finally obtained, to the greatrelief of the students and myself. Still the Bittern sat motionless on its nest,except for a very slight shifting of the head in following my movements. Atlength, in order to see the eggs, it seemed necessary to lift the

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