96 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



Refuse vegetables, bits of stale meat, and even dead animals 

 were thrown out into the street at the rear of the stalls, and we 

 looked out through the openings where the street cleaning depart- 

 ment were already at work. There were hundreds in the com- 

 pany and though they had no carts or cans, whatever was thrown 

 out disappeared at once. 



I laughed when I saw them. What do you suppose they were? 

 Well, they were just great, awkward, Black Cultures, hopping 

 about upon the pavement, quarreling over some scrap. At first 

 glance one might think a flock of unkempt, ungainly, ill-kept 

 turkeys had escaped from some barnyard- 



But they looked different afterwards, when I saw large flocks 

 sailing about in great circles high in the air, they then appeared 

 the most graceful of birds, seeming to float with hardly a motion 

 of their broad out-stretched wings. We saw them nearly every- 

 where we went, for no one is allowed to kill them. Their senses 

 of sight and smell are very acute. They utter no sound unless 

 disturbed when they make a low grunting noise. Each night 

 they return to a regular roosting place. 



Later we went down by the water, where there were thousands 

 of birds — Kittwakes, Terns and Gulls, scavengers of the sea — 

 whirling about, dropping down to the top of the water, skimming 

 along the waves, or diving for an unlucky fish, in constant 

 motion; they made a beautiful picture. 



But I have not time now to tell you about them. We go to 

 St. Augustine to-morrow, and will write you from there. 



Your Loving Sister, Ruth. 



GLEANINGS. 



All bird students will recall the pretty way in which most of 

 the Plovers let the world know who they are. As soon as they 

 alight they stand for a moment with both wings raised straight 

 up to display the beautiful pattern on the wing linings, a pattern 

 which is quite different in each kind, and that is like the 

 national flag of the species, for it lets friend and foe alike know 

 what species is displaying it. 



Ernest Thompson Seton. 



