132 ON THE UPPER ST. JOHN'S. 



boat noiselessly against the bank in the 

 shelter of tall reeds, put down the oars, with 

 which he could almost have touched the 

 alligator, and took up his gun. At that 

 moment the creature got wind of us, and 

 slipped incontinently into the water, not a 

 little to my relief. One live alligator is 

 worth a dozen dead ones, to my thinking. 

 He showed his back above the surface of the 

 stream for a moment shortly afterward, and 

 then disappeared for good. 



Ornithologically, the creek was a disap- 

 pointment. We pushed into one bay after 

 another, among the dense " bonnets," - 

 huge leaves of the common yellow pond lily, 

 but found nothing that I had not seen 

 before. Here and there a Florida gallinule 

 put up its head among the leaves, or took 

 flight as we pressed too closely upon it ; but 

 I saw them to no advantage, and with a 

 single exception they were dumb. One bird, 

 as it dashed into the rushes, uttered two 

 or three cries that sounded familiar. The 

 Florida gallinule is in general pretty silent, 

 I think ; but he has a noisy season ; then he 

 is indeed noisy enough. A swamp contain- 

 ing a single pair might be supposed to bo 



