HUNTING WITH A HARPOON 



terest, while no hour was without its excitement. 

 Every sense was appealed to and gratified by 

 the surroundings. 



Often on the rivers fragrance filled the air 

 from blossoms of magnolia, wild orange, lemon, 

 and lime, or flowers of jessamine and leaves of 

 myrtle and sweet bay. No longer are trees 

 white with the snowy heron, but the brilliant 

 plumage of the red bird and the song of the 

 mocking bird are yet in evidence, while the ma- 

 jestic man-o'-war hawk often floats above one 

 and, rarely, may be seen the most graceful bird 

 that flies, the fork-tailed kite. Often a water- 

 turkey excites your derision by tumbling clum- 

 sily from a tree into the water beside your canoe 

 and invites your harpoon by swimming swiftly 

 away beneath the surface of the water. If you 

 yield to temptation and harpoon the bird the 

 chances are about four out of five that you can 

 discover a possible cause of its crazy freaks in 

 the shape of a little worm in its brain, just be- 

 neath the top of its skull. 



So many are the diversions in following the 

 waterways that I have sometimes found it hard 

 to keep on my job, and have been mortified by 



35 



