10 



JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



now and then picked up a new speci- 

 men or shot into an alligator, for we 

 frequently surprised them outstretcii- 

 ed on their "beds" sunning. These 

 beds which at first are started by the 

 saurians wallowing down a mass of 

 reeds and cane, soon catch much of 

 the sediment which the current is 

 continually carrying through these 

 prairies, forming the nearest approach 

 to terra ferma we had seen since 

 passing "Indian old field." 



About four o'clock we forced our 

 way into a larger lagoon than we had 

 before entered. At one end of it was 

 a clump of water willows, the only 

 sign of tree life to be seen for miles. 

 In these were perched with outspread 

 wings after the manner of vultures, a 

 dozen or more of Anhingas or water 

 turkeys; these instead of being 

 alarmed at our sudden appearance, 

 simply gazed at us in astonishment. 

 A charge of shot fired among them 

 wounded one which escaped and sent 

 the rest tumbling headlong into the 

 water after their characteristic man- 

 ner, only the wounded one acting as 

 if it wasn't killed outright. The dis- 

 charge of the gun waked up an im- 

 mense 'gator which had been snooz- 

 ing away his time on a bed at the foot 

 of the willows, and with a great 

 splash he too disappeared. After 

 leaving this lagoon the spaces of 

 open water grew smaller and the in- 

 tervening stretches of brake and 

 reeds longer till just as the the sun 

 was sinking from sight, we were forc- 

 ing our way into a vast plain of grass- 

 like reeds, which bore as much re- 

 semblance to a river as a mowing 

 field does to an ocean. Not a sign of 

 water could be seen as we looked off 

 across it, and our boat was leaving 

 behind the same kind of a trail that 

 one makes in walking through tall, 

 heavy grass; yet by running our oars 

 down eight feet we could not find 

 bottom. Just here we made a start- 

 ling discovery. We were working 

 our way towards the setting sun, and 

 we knew Salt Lake must lie to the 

 east of the prairie. 



How long we had been directing 

 our course west we had no idea, for 

 we had followed where open water 

 led, without any regard to the points 

 of compass. There was but one thing 

 for us to do, and that was to work 

 our way back over the course we had 

 come till darkness overtook us, and 



then wait for morning. This part of 

 our route was not difficult to trace, 

 owing to the "wallows" we had left 

 in the reeds, but beyond that it was 

 not pleasant to think of. Hastily we 

 threaded our way back till darkness 

 stopped our further progress just as 

 we entered the large lagoon where, 

 in the afternoon, we had discovered 

 the water turkeys in the willows 

 and startled the big 'gator from his 

 bed. Cautiously we worked our 

 way to that bed, for if his 'gatorship 

 was gone it would be a good chance 

 to ground (?) our boat for the night. 

 We found it vacated, and accordingly 

 laid our boat up alongside. It was a 

 light supper we ate that night; we 

 had but little cooked food left, and 

 we could form no estimate how long 

 we might have to subsist on it. Our 

 greatest fear was that if we were lost 

 many days in the prairie, we might 

 strain our boat in pushing her 

 through the cane, so that we could 

 not keep her afloat. Our situation in 

 such an event would be terrible, for 

 impeded by grass as we should be, 

 there would be no hope of ever 

 reaching terra firma. 



And these were the events and cir- 

 cumstances which lead to our passing 

 the night in the Devil's Lagoon and 

 to our disturbed slumbers on that 

 same Christmas eve. When brought 

 so suddenly to our senses we could 

 have been dozing but a few minutes, 

 however, we were conscious of a ter- 

 rific splash ana an accompanying 

 lurching of our craft. Pulling our- 

 selves quickly together we found our 

 boat nearly filled with water and 

 much of our baggage overboard. We 

 gathered in such of it as floated, but 

 no inconsiderable amount of camp 

 utensils still lie beneath those murky 

 waters. The finder may keep them 

 for his honesty. ^The only way to ex- 

 plain our mishap* was that the alliga- 

 tor owning that particular bed had 

 returned home late, perhaps with a 

 "jag on," and endeavoring to crawl 

 over or into our boat, had nearly up- 

 set us. As can readily be imagined, 

 there was little sleep for us after this, 

 neither did we "use round" the vi- 

 cinity of that 'gator's claim any more, 

 the middle of the lagoon was good 

 enough for us from that time on, and 

 for exercise, the Educator paddled 

 the "Water Turkey" back and forth 

 over oi;r limited domains at frequent 



