138 ON THE UPPER ST. JOHN'S. 



lake before unvisited, a mass of floating 

 islands and ' bonnets,' I found them not 

 uncommon." The boy's assertions may be 

 worth recording, at any rate. 



In one place he fired suddenly, and as he 

 put down the gun he exclaimed, " There ! 

 I'll bet I've shot a bird you never saw 

 before. It had a bill as long as that," 

 with one finger laid crosswise upon another. 

 He hauled the prize into the boat, and sure 

 enough, it was a novelty, a king rail, new 

 to both of us. We had gone a little farther, 

 and were passing a prairie, on which were 

 pools of water where the boy said he had 

 often seen large flocks of white ibises feeding 

 (there were none there now, alas, though we 

 crept up with all cautiousness to peep over 

 the bank), when all at once I descried some 

 sharp-winged, strange-looking bird over our 

 heads. It showed sidewise at the moment, 

 but an instant later it turned, and I saw its 

 long forked tail, and almost in the same 

 breath its white head. A fork-tailed kite ! 

 and purple gallinules were for the time for- 

 gotten. It was performing the most grace- 

 ful evolutions, swooping half-way to the 

 earth from a great height, and then sweep- 



