134 ON THE UPPER ST. JOHN'S. 



possible gallinule. In the course of the trip 

 we saw, besides the species already named, 

 great blue and little blue herons, pied-billed 

 grebes, coots, cormorants, a flock of small 

 sandpipers (on the wing), buzzards, vul- 

 tures, fish-hawks, and innumerable red- 

 winged blackbirds. 



Three days afterward we went up the 

 river. At the upper end of the lake were 

 many white -billed coots (Fulica ameri- 

 cana) ; so many that we did our best to 

 count them as they rose, flock after flock, 

 dragging their feet over the water behind 

 them with a multitudinous splashing noise. 

 There were a thousand, at least. They had 

 an air of being not so very shy, but they 

 were nobody's fools. " See there ! " my boy 

 would exclaim, as a hundred or two of them 

 dashed past the boat ; " see how they keep 

 just out of range ! " 



We were hardly on the river itself before 

 he fell into a state of something like frenzy 

 at the sight of an otter swimming before us, 

 showing its head, and then diving. He 

 made after it in hot haste, and fired I know 

 not how many times, but all for nothing. 

 He had killed several before now, he said, 



