176 



BAHAMA BIRD-LIFE 



isfaction, the Flamingos go back to their nests when we 

 were but half across the swash. The claim had been located ; 

 it promised nuggets at every step, and our next move was 

 to prepare to work it. I have never camped in a less suit- 

 able place, but if we had been beneath hemlocks with a 

 dashing mountain stream at our threshhold, we could not 

 have pitched our tent more cheerfully. At once it was dis- 



r 

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k 



"With legs and necks fully outstretched " 



covered that the sand barely covered the limestone. To 

 drive a tent-pin effectively was out of the question, and our 

 tent was stayed to roots and bushes and to one of the boats, 

 which was hauled ashore to windward, as an anchor f or 

 both tent and fly. Incidentally, it proved a capital tank. 

 The daily rains (we had over twenty inches during the 

 month) soon filled it, and beyond a few gallons brought 

 from the schooner, it provided the only and an unlimited 

 supply of fresh water during the eight days we were in 

 camp. 



The prospects of the morrow were fatal to sleep, and at 



