280 BLUE-FISHING. 



BLUE-FISHING. 



LONG ISLAND lies in the State of New York ; thero 

 may be other islands that are long, but there is only 

 one Long Island. Other States may have endeav- 

 ored to appropriate the name and steal the reputa- 

 tion of our pastoral Paradise. They may have 

 called portions of their territory long or short, broad 

 or deep, that is a matter for them, and makes no 

 difference to us. There is not, there never was, and 

 there never will be but one Long Island, and that be- 

 longs to the State of New York and the inhabitants 

 thereof. It would be vain to attempt to describe 

 the attractions and perfections of this favored spot, 

 to explain our fondness for it and our jealousy 

 lest some out-of-the-way Western settlement should 

 set up a surreptitious claim to it by virtue of having 

 named some bit of its own territory by the same 

 appellation. Long Island is the natural abiding 

 place of the civilization-loving quail ; it is one of 

 the favorite haunts of the woodcock ; its plains 

 were once frequented by the heath-hen, the prairie- 

 chicken of the West, until the poachers and game 

 murderers ruthlessly slew them all ; it is visited 

 spring and summer by countless myriads of ducks ; 

 bay-snipe follow its coast in August and September, 

 and fish fairly crowd its shores, streams, ponds, 



