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COMRADES IN SONG 577

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COMRADES IN SONG 579

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Outlines for Scout Workers

By Delbert W. Parratt, B. S.

XXIX — The American Bittern "Along its glades, a solitary guest, The hollow-sounding bittern guards its nest." Goldsmith's "Deserted Village." 1. The bittern is closely related to what other bird we have studied? Give at least four points in which they are alike. 2. Give at least five other names by which the bittern is known and tell why each is applied to it. 3. Describe its call. At what season is it usually heard? Why then? 4. In what part of our valley does the bittern live? Name two things about the bird that would indicate this? 5. Upon what and during what time of the day does he feed? 6. About how big is the bittern and what is the predominating color? Of what use is this color to him? 7. He often throws his head back and holds his bill in a vertical position. Why? In what way does this aid him? 8. Contrast his flight with that of the great blue heron and tell whv the difference. 9. Where is the nest built? Give number and color of eggs. 10. Should he be protected? Why? Do our state laws offer protection to him? If so, in what way?

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OUTLINES FOR SCOUT WORKERS 581

and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts." —Isaiah 14:23. The bird mentioned by both Goldsmith and Isaiah is the European bittern. It is somewhat larger than the bittern so common throughout America, but in most other respects the two are much alike. Both the European and American varieties belong to the heron family and in consequence are closely related to the great blue heron with which we are all so well acquainted. To bird students the name bittern at once suggests a strong, windy, shudder-giving noise. Some, in describing the peculiar call of the American bird, have compared it with the choked bellow of a bull, and since the bittern frequents boggy places, have named him Bog Bull. Others describe the call as sounding like the driving of stakes into mushy soil, and from this have given him the suggestive name of Stake Driver. Still others compare his call to the noise produced by an old-time suction pump, and therefore have called him Prairie Pump and also Thunder Pumper. Because his body is much the size of a common hen he is often called the Marsh Hen, and from a peculiar habit of holding his head in a vertical position, he is at times referred to as Look-Up. In our own locality his most common name, aside from bittern, is that of Shitepoke. my heart near broke "I'll tell yor. true When someone called me just shitepoke, So now with trousers 'bove my knees» I romp through marshes as I please." His call, uttered during mating season, is one of his most striking characteristics. You see him standing perfectly motionless when all of a sudden he snaps, gulps, fills his lungs with air, and then bellows forth the most unmusical sound ever heard from a bird. People in different localities describe it variously as "pump-er-bunk," "ump-up-ump" and, perhaps better still, "puck-la-grook." In literature the bittern's harsh, windy voice is made to give the final touch to that which is dismal, desolate, and mournful. It is said to be ventriloquial, easilv confusing one as to direction and distance, and thus affording a decided means of protection. The American bittern is speckly brown and buff. Rather stiff feathers cover his breast and back. His legs are long, but somewhat heavier than those of most other wading birds, and his toes are unusually long and well adapted to keep from sinking into soft mud. He is semi-nocturnal in habit, and obtains most of his food at twilight. His choicest morsels are frogs, lizards and field mice, although he is very fond of large insects and small snakes.