Botaurus lentiginosus. Maine (Lake Umbagog). 1871. June 3. On the largest of the floating islands near the house we found three nests to-day, containing respective- ly six, five, and three eggs, all quite fresh. The nests were rude structures of sticks placed on the quak- ing, boggy ground in a matted bed of cassandra bushes and all within a few rods of one another. The females sat closely rising only when nearly troddon on. We found only one male on the island. He boomed at all times of the day, and even after the nests were robbed did not desert the place. These floating islands of which there several in the Lake are singular and interesting formations, composed of interlaced roots and tussocks more or less covered with cassandra bushes, alders, and Cornus stolonifera. The one where the Bittern nests were found has two larch trees fifteen or twenty feet high. They are literally vegetable rafts, rising and falling with the water of the lake. This Bit orn island is said to have come from a point a mile or more distant, breaking loose from its original moorings and drifting to the spot where it now stands. Its surface is quaking and more or less treach- erous, yielding several inches at each foot-sta[illegible] and oc- casionally breaking through. 1872. June -- A nest with five perfectly fresh eggs on the floa- ting island. 1873. Sept. 1. One shot August 30 and another to-day. 1876. May 26. A male uttering his singular notes on the floating island near the house and another answering him from a smaller island near Stone's landing. We paddled to within a few yards of the first but could not see him as he was concealed among the grass and bushes. His cry was as follows: er-lump, noomp-or loomb the last three syllables repeated five times in succession. The first, making a sort of prelude to the whole performance. Oc- casionally a seventh utterance was added as if he was not altogether satisfied with what he had accomplished. The first syllable has a watery swallowing sound; the second is exactly like a distant axe stroke on resonant wood; while the last sounds like the echo of the stroke.