78 ALONG THE HILLSBOROUGH. 



with a rifle, and do his worst to kill or maim 

 every living thing that came in sight, from 

 a spotted sandpiper to a turkey buzzard ! I 

 call him a " gentleman ; " he was in gentle 

 company, and the fact that he chewed gum 

 industriously would, I fear, hardly invali- 

 date his claim to that title. The narrow 

 river wound in and out between low, densely 

 wooded banks, and the beauty of the shift- 

 ing scene was enough almost to take one's 

 breath away ; but the crack of the rifle 

 was not the less frequent on that account. 

 Perhaps the sportsman was a Southerner, 

 to whom river scenery of that enchanting 

 kind was an old story. More likely he was 

 a Northerner, one of the men who thank 

 Heaven they are " not sentimental." 



In my rambles up and down the river 

 road I saw few water birds beside the her- 

 ons. Two or three solitary cormorants would 

 be shooting back and forth at a furious rate, 

 or swimming in midstream ; and sometimes 

 a few spotted sandpipers and killdeer plov- 

 ers were feeding along the shore. Once in 

 a great while a single gull or tern made its 

 appearance, just often enough to keep 

 me wondering why they were not there 



