At the Water's Edge 



game, and some of the perches are so much 

 more attractive than others, that a gunner will 

 sometimes sleep all night under a tree, in order ' 

 to pre-empt the claim in the morning. 



Besides finding Cape May favorable for 

 studying the various hawks, which are particu- 

 larly abundant hereabouts — one man telling me 

 that he had shot fifty-six the day before, just 

 for practice ! — I had an opportunity of observ- 

 ing one of the most repulsive species in the 

 feathered kingdom — the turkey buzzard. We 

 might say of it, as was once remarked in regard 

 to a certain person's conduct, "it is worse than 

 sinful, it is vulgar." And, as I saw these un- 

 gainly creatures moping about on the beach, 

 with unkempt plumage, tall but crouching fig- 

 ures, round-shouldered, with snaky necks, and 

 slinking, glittering eyes, coarse-visaged and 

 stupid, and with a nauseous appetite, the sight 

 struck me as the very quintessence of vulgarity. 

 They are perfectly harmless, however, never 

 capturing live animals, and serve a valuable, if 

 disgusting, purpose, in converting into their 

 own tissue carrion of every sort, for which 

 we should be grateful that they have the 

 taste. 



Yet, as we are enjoined to give even the 



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