CHAPTER X 



BIRD RESERVES AT THE MOUTH OF THE 

 MISSISSIPPI 



ON June 7, 1915, I was the guest of my 

 friend John M. Parker, of New Orleans, 

 at his house at Pass Christian, Missis- 

 sippi. For many miles west, and especially 

 east, of Pass Christian, there are small towns 

 where the low, comfortable, singularly pic- 

 turesque and attractive houses are owned, 

 some by Mississippi planters, some by city 

 folk who come hither from the great Southern 

 cities, and more and more in winter-time from 

 the great Northern cities also, to pass a few 

 months. The houses, those that are isolated 

 and those in the little towns, stand in what 

 is really one long row; a row broken by va- 

 cant reaches, but as a whole stretching for 

 sixty miles, with the bright waters of the Gulf 

 lapping the beach in front of them, and behind 

 them leagues of pine forest. Between the Gulf 

 and the waters lies a low ridge or beach of white 

 sand. It is hard to make anything grow in this 



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