A PIONEER OF THE POOL. 209 



turtle, its flaring carapace covered with algae, 

 while scores of leeches clung to the loose skin 

 of neck and tail. Hoary with age and these 

 parasitic attachments, ill-smelling, hissing and 

 snapping, I was only too glad to dump him 

 back into the pool, where to-day, for aught I 

 know, he may still be dwelling, the monarch of 

 its depths. Here, too, the sunfish "hang mo- 

 tionless' 7 above their nests of tiny pebbles, wait- 

 ing for the July sunshine to call into active life 

 the protoplasm within the minute spherules 

 where many a future "sunny " at present sleeps. 



The kine love these wider pools and in the 

 heat of the day or the glow of eventide are 

 often seen standing therein, the water to their 

 briskets, or even to their mid-sides. An hour 

 at p. time they may stand thus, ruminating and 

 perchance pondering o'er the pleasant weather 

 and the rich juiciness of their Kentucky blue- 

 grass. 



But hark, a "ke-uck," "ke-uck" is heard 

 rapidly nearing, and across an open space comes 

 straight toward me an ungainly bind in rapid 

 awkward flight. It is a green heron, "shite- 



(14) 



