140 ON THE UPPER ST. JOHN'S. 



pie ! " He drew the bird in, as proud as 

 a prince. " There, sir ! " he said ; " did n't 

 I tell you it was handsome? It has every 

 color there is." And indeed it was hand- 

 some, worthy to be called the " Sultana ; '' 

 with the most exquisite iridescent bluish- 

 purple plumage, the legs yellow, or greenish- 

 yellow (a point by which it may be distin- 

 guished from the Florida gallinule, as the 

 bird flies from you), the bill red tipped with 

 pale green, and the shield (on the forehead, 

 like a continuation of the upper mandible) 

 light blue, of a peculiar shade, " just as if it 

 had been painted." From that moment the 

 boy was a new creature. Again and again 

 he spoke of his altered feelings. He could 

 pull the boat now anywhere I wanted to go. 

 He was perfectly fresh, he declared, al- 

 though I thought he had already done a 

 pretty good day's work under that scorching 

 sun. I had not imagined how deeply his 

 heart was set upon showing me the bird 

 I was after. It made me twice as glad to 

 see it, dead though it was. 



Within an hour, on our way homeward, 

 we came upon another. It sprang out of 

 the lily pads, and sped toward the tall grass 



