Word: bittern
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...rich rewards to nature lovers. The plantation is a bird-watcher's paradise. Ubiquitous wooden signposts display names and illustrations of the various species that are permanent or migratory residents, including the golden oriole (seen only in November), the cattle egret (spotted from January through September) and the black bittern (prevalent July through September). If you hear a gunshot, fear not?the birds aren't being hunted. More likely it's one of the local Kodavas?the region's indigenous people?signaling the birth of a son. Reputed to be descendants of an ancient warrior clan, the Kodavas...
...England. John was then 51, and he had been a public figure since the turn of the century; he would continue to be one, through progressive embalmings as a Grand Old Man, for another 30 years. Nearly 6 ft. tall, bearded like the pard, and booming like a bittern, much given to fancy dress-cloaks, Carlyle-size black hats, gold earrings-he boozed and philandered his way through every level of English society. He was a licensed vertical invader, conspicuous even in the notable roster of Edwardian eccentrics that stretched from the Cafe Royal to Bloomsbury. There had of course...
...really knew how to mourn? "The Greeks. They wept, they recovered, they recalled." What is old age? "Both by its practitioners and by its observers, it is approached too rhetorically and on too sustained a note-the whine of the gnat, the organ pedal diapasoning, the boom of the bittern, are among its musical accompaniments. The old person is assumed, and often affects to be, all of a piece-disgusting, pitiful, pretentious, peevish, noble, ingratiating, moody, and so on. It is really more varied, a seductive combination of increased wisdom and decaying powers...
...damns. Surely even a Liberal ought to have good intentions; and what does bridge-playing indicate in a politician,.except maybe a liking for bridge? And when you say that he bumbles . . . what is it that you wish to convey? Does he hum like a bee, cry like a bittern, bungle, blunder, bustle, or muffle...
...midair, and under water to see weary salmon returning to their spawning beds. A young beaver goes off on his own, sets up housekeeping with a widow and her baby beaver and builds a dam for the family. A skulking coyote preys on the well-camouflaged heron and bittern and the nimble marmot and badger...