THE ATLANTIC SLOPE NATURALIST. 



5i 



very popular , and soon got fat and 

 sassy. His pedigree was vast and var- 

 ied but lie was a good hunter, and some 

 of his ancestors had furnished him 

 with a most unerring nose. Peace to 

 his ashes. A snake got him. 



Up among the cypress heads where 

 the branches all originated were some 

 darling little spots. Deer were plenty 

 and turkeys far from scarce. There 

 were big soft shell turtles in some of 

 the black water holes, and in the near- 

 by pine barren we always ran upon 

 squirrels, both grey and fox. The 

 song of the meadow lark was forever 

 in the air. Brown-headed nuthatches 

 scrambled up and down th« pines, and 

 if we ever found a mocking bird we 

 wasted valuable time listening to his 

 song. The variety of pleasing "mo- 

 tifs, ' ' that the flat woods mocker suc- 

 ceeds in picking up from any and all 

 of his neighbors, would make any of 

 his poor caged city cousins die of em T 3\ 



Such unpromising subjects as wood- 

 peckers even, I have heard remodeled 

 by him into a most pleasing melody, 

 and oue close to camp used to wake up 

 nights and do his little roundelay with 

 the chuck wills widow for a basis. 



Often we would come upon a little 

 bunch of water birds — blois, herons, 

 and anhingas — and w T hen I had selected 

 the victim, Jim would proceed to 

 "make a kill" as he called it, so as 

 not to "tare up the hide too much." 

 Then Trash would fetch it and I would 

 fall to skinning. For in that hot cli- 

 mate specimens had to be attended to 

 at once. In the hot noon time we 

 sought out a shady place to "brile 

 something," smoke, and take a bit of 

 a nap. Sometimes I would botanize 

 a bit or browse on huckleberries, in 

 which Trash would eagerly join — the 

 browsing of course, I mean — and get 

 quite gory looking about the muzzle. 



Those long lazy restful noons away 

 up in the wild woods came closer to 

 Lotus Land, than anything I have 

 ever experienced. It seemed to be 

 longer than two or three days of work. 



The sky looked higher and bluer than 

 it did on week days, and the big white 

 masses of clouds seemed to roll about 

 up there and play with each other. I 

 think the lower Gulf coast must be 

 noted for its splendid clouds. Possi- 

 bly I may have hit upon a specially 

 fine streak of them, for, though at 

 first, I thought it was merely my own 

 whim and fancy and because I was en- 

 joying myself so mightilv, since I have 

 begun to develop my photographs I 

 find very few of them show the "bald- 

 headed" skies so much affected by a 

 certain class of amateurs. 



Noon was a famous time too, to 

 watch the bees, and try to line them 

 down to their tree. The joke was on 

 me once for this. I spent hours one 

 day t^ the west of camp and had two 

 lines nicely fixed up which when I 

 followed them, led to a hive in a set- 

 tler's back yard. 



Then the day w T ould at last begin to 

 get older and cooler. The shadow r 

 would glide a little way off from the 

 foot of our pine and small breezes now 

 and then carry the smoke of our pipes 

 off to one side instead of letting it go 

 straight up. The afternoon wind was 

 something to be watched, for our hunt 

 for venison depended on which way it 

 blew, and whether it was strong 

 enough to carry our scent away from 

 the deer. Jim depended on me for all 

 the planning for the w T hole sum of his 

 accomplishments seemed to consist in 

 using straight powder. He was no 

 hunter. 



A man that is going to train a dog 

 must first learn to ' ' think dog. ' ' And 

 so a man that is going to kill a deer, 

 must think both dog and deer. A feed- 

 ing buck can always be reached up 

 wind, if you watch his tail close. 

 When he flicks it keep still. He will 

 look up and you must wait till he has 

 satisfied his mind that all is serene be- 

 fore he begins to feed again. Don't 

 crack a stick. That will sure start 

 him off. The chances are about three 

 to one he goes away from you, but 



