IN THE CAPE SABLE WILDERNESS 



43 



NEST AND YOUNG OF THE WOOD IBIS, BUILT ON THE TOPS OF THE MANGROVES 



Taking an occasional rest, during one of which Bradley 

 climbed to the nest of a Red-shouldered Hawk in a slender 

 tree, bringing the one young hawk down for me to photo- 

 graph, and returning it again to its home, about noon we were 

 rejoiced to catch sight, through the trees, of the lake, which 

 we began to fear we had missed. It was about a mile long, 

 with densely wooded shores, a mere layer of water over a bed 

 of soft mud. Up near the farther end we could see an islet 

 with a lot of snow-white birds roosting on the trees. As we 

 paddled out toward it in the canoe, several alligators appeared 

 ahead of us, swimming desperately in their race for deeper 

 water and supposed security. Now and then they would raise 

 and turn their snouts to get an observation of our progress, 

 then paddle away again. Poor brutes, they know that their 

 hides are wanted for purposes not agreeable to them ! 



