140 Mr. G. C. Taylor on Birds observed 



patoSj nor are there many mosquitoes. Sand-flies, which are like 

 Scotch " midges/' are plentiful enough ; and I am told there is 

 any quantity of fleas, but I experienced no inconvenience from 

 them. There are some very large flies, of the same shape, and 

 fully three times as large, as a blue-bottle, which buzz round one 

 most pertinaciously, and are very annoying, but harmless, except 

 to horses, which suffer severely from their bites. 



April 4. — At night Sheldon proposed to me to go out " fire- 

 hunting '^ deer. So as it was a novelty to me in the way of 

 sport, I accompanied him to see what it was like, and to record 

 my experiences for the information of those readers of ' The Ibis' 

 who may not know how it is done. 



He rode in front, carrying the light, and I followed with his 

 gun, acting as his gillie or after-rider. His fire-apparatus con- 

 sisted of an old frying-pan with a hole in the bottom, fastened 

 to the end of a short pole. This, with some pitch-pine-knots, 

 all a-blaze in it, he carried over his shoulder. A piece of coarse 

 canvas was fixed over the horse's back to protect it from the 

 falling cinders. The horse also carried a pair of saddle-bags 

 with a supply of pine-knots to replenish the fire when necessary. 

 We rode through some old fields where cotton was formerly 

 grown, but which are now out of cultivation, being covered with 

 coarse grass, with a few palmettos and pines growing here and 

 there. In these fields the deer are in the habit of feeding at 

 night. As we rode along, Sheldon was peering into the darkness, 

 watching for the "shine" of the eyes of the Deer, which come 

 up to look at the light. After a short time he stopped, got off" 

 his horse, which I held for him, and took his gun, which was 

 loaded with buck-shot. He walked on a short distance, still 

 carrying the blazing frying-pan over his shoulder, and fired. I 

 went up and found a year- old deer-calf, kicking on the ground, 

 which, after cleaning and covering over with palmetto boughs 

 to protect it from the Turkey Buzzards, we left till morning. 

 We rode on some distance further, but saw no more. There is 

 no more sport in "fire-hunting" than in shooting Pheasants at 

 roost, and it is equally destructive, especially where the deer 

 are not used to the practice. Here they are wild, being much 

 hunted in all ways, and lie during the day in the swamps 



