Let me give here again a presentment of our Common Heron in the Marshlands of Kent. “An empty stomach has caused the Heron to leave his sanctuary in the Scotch firs that close in one end of the now frozen mere, and to come floating down to the river side. He has left bitter weather behind him, at any rate, for out in the west it is a cold steel-grey above, with a glow like that of the northern lights resting on the crests of the distant hills. For once he places caution on one side; one ring round directly over our head, and then he drops and folds his wings by the edge of a bit of water that is not frozen because it runs sharply over some shallows. The grey and white fisher has come here for his supper, knowing well that when waters are icebound, the fish will work up to any open piece of water, or even to a small hole broken through the ice, for air. They must have air; even eels, which are supposed to be able to live anyhow or anywhere. To prevent him rising I take a wide range out in the water meadows, frozen down nearly two feet in depth; but I might just as well have been saved the trouble for a lot of rooks that have been trying to stock out a last scanty meal before roosting, from some manure heaps--that have been placed there to dress the meadow for the hay crop--come for him as one bird, and the lonely fisher is up and away again to his sanctuary in the fir trees.”[5] [Illustration: HARMFUL. THE BITTERN.] THE BITTERN. (_Botaurus stellaris._) The bittern is a strange-looking bird which as it moves stealthily among the reed-beds, has given rise to many superstitions and weird beliefs. Yet it is nothing but a greedy, insatiable cousin of the Heron, living on small fishes, but not despising young birds, water-rats, water-beetles, frogs, and even horse-leeches as food. Its eyes at once announce that it is a night bird. On a still night its booming can be heard more than a mile and a half away; and from this the bird has received some of its local names, such as “Bumble” and “Mire-drum.” The sounds which it utters are deep, hollow roars, as though they came from some large animal; many people will not believe that these sounds proceed from a slender bird. They sound like “_Cu-prumb-cu-prumm-cu-um_.” Sometimes, though not often, a “_boo_” is added to the “_prumb_.” Learned scientific books have been written on the nature of these sounds. The truth is that they occur when the bird draws air into its feed-pipe until it is full and then expels it forcibly. In this way it produces its mating-call, the love-song of the male bird. It is not given to every bird to sing like the nightingale. * * * * *