PRINCETON 



93 



and ibises. Before our departure thousands of 

 snowy herons and large white egrets had as- 

 sembled, built their nests and laid their eggs in 

 this willow swamp. Approached from the lake 

 it presented the appearance in the distance of a 

 miraculous circus-tent, of so prodigious a size that 

 it appeared to cover at least a mile with its front. 

 A better simile would be the snowy peak of 

 some mountain-range, except that the whole was 

 so near the lake-level, the willow trees being not 

 more than ten or twelve feet high at any place. 



At another place near the cypress along the 

 edge of the lake large flocks of ducks might be 

 seen on the sheltered surface at almost any time 

 during my stay ; and I can only liken the flocks 

 of fresh-water coots to great black rafts. The 

 birds were as close together as they could sit on 

 the water. 



But there w-ere two birds at Panasofkee Lake 

 that produced a greater impression on me than 

 anything else ; the first was the limpkin or giant 

 courlan, or better still, the crying bird, which was 

 extremely numerous and very tame. During the 

 mating and breeding season, w^hich was coinci- 

 dent with my stay at Panasofkee, these birds were 

 very noisy. Their cry is most ear-piercing and 

 penetrating. It is to be likened to repeated cries 

 of some one in great distress ; and when I say 

 that frequently companies of from ten to fifty of 



