ALONG THE HILLSBOROUGH. 77 



vulgarism as applied to a creature so superb, 

 so utterly and transceiidently splendid. I 

 saw it in a way to be sure of it only 

 once. Then, on an island in the Hillsbor- 

 ough, two birds stood in the dead tops of 

 low shrubby trees, fully exposed in the 

 most favorable of lights, their long dorsal 

 trains drooping behind them and swaying 

 gently in the wind. I had never seen any- 

 thing so magnificent. And when I returned, 

 two or three hours afterward, from a jaunt 

 up the beach to Mosquito Inlet, there they 

 still were, as if they had not stirred in all 

 that time. The reader should understand 

 that this egret is between four and five feet 

 in length, and measures nearly five feet from 

 wing tip to wing tip, and that its plumage 

 throughout is of spotless white. It is pitiful 

 to think how constantly a bird of that size 

 and color must be in danger of its life. 



Happily, the lawmakers of the State have 

 done something of recent years for the pro- 

 tection of such defenseless beauties. Hap- 

 pily, too, shooting from the river boats is no 

 longer permitted, on the regular lines, 

 that is. I myself saw a young gentleman 

 stand on the deck of an excursion steamer, 



