128 



THE CANADIAN SPORTSMAN AND NATURALIST. 



K — , at, that moment we heard two reports 

 from a gun, then all was silent. We waited a 

 few minutes longer, when Bob again spoke. 

 He made the circuit of the island several times 

 and then once more all was quiet. K — and 

 I sat and watched the sharks pursuing the 

 mullet. I counted seven sharks from five to 

 ten feet long, all within a hundred yards of us ; 

 or we watched the interesting movements of a 

 large Bald Eagle and an Osprey. The latter 

 had captured a mullet, when the Eagle, which 

 had waited patiently on a large mangrove near 

 by for this event, immediately swooped down 

 towards the Osprey, which uttering screams of 

 despair, endeavored to rise above the Eagle. 

 This, the last named bird tried to prevent. I 

 never saw anything more beautiful than the 

 flight of those two birds. The Osprey would 

 rise quickly, then drop, but the Eagle was 

 always close behind, and throwing itself down 

 with a half somersault movement, would try 

 to seize hold of the fish. When this had gone 

 on for some time, a second Eagle appeared on 

 the scene and took up the pursuit, upon which 

 the first withdrew from the chase and' returned 

 to his perch. The Osprey now evidently 

 despaired of escaping with its prey as the 

 second Eagle which appeared to be a female, 

 and was probably the mate of the other, 

 pursued it so closely, it was forced to drop the 

 fish, when the Eagle pausing for a moment in 

 . the air, went down with a rush and caught the 

 fish before it fell in the water. In watching 

 the Eagles we had almost forgotten the Deer, 

 but Bob had not, for we could hear him 

 approaching quite rapidly. We also heard 

 C — and S — shoot once or twice. In a few 

 minutes a deer jumped into the water from 

 out the mangroves to be quickly followed by 

 another, and close at their heels was Bob. 

 On they came swimming rapidly towards us, 

 nothing but their heads being above water. 

 When they came within good range I gave the 

 first the contents of my gun, turning it over, 

 w hile K — fired at the second only wounding 

 it however, and though we gave it another 

 charge of buckshot, it swam around the end of 

 the bar and escaped to Pine Island. We got 

 the dog into the boat and going over tracked 

 it for some distance into a mangrove swamp, 

 but as the tide was rising, Bob lost the trail 

 and we had to return without it much to our 

 disappointment. Returning to the bar we took 

 the Deer we had secured to the boats where 

 we cut it up. As the sun was now getting 

 down towards the horizon, the various kinds 

 of birds began to seek their roosts or rookery, 



as it is called. I stood there and saw flock 

 after flock of Ibises, Pelicans Herons, Egrets, 

 Spanish Curlews, Cormorants, etc. pass by, 

 while the rookery was alive with them. High 

 over all sailed the graceful man of war Hawks 

 describing circle alter circle with a scarcely 

 perceptible motion of the wing. Having had 

 something to eat, C — and I started for home, 

 the others in the schooner going up the harbor 

 in search of Flamingoes. We had a pleasant 

 sail home and altogether enjoyed our hunt 

 very much. I may mention that it was a 

 " Coon" Bob had treed the first time, and our 

 friends had to discharge their guns to frighten 

 the Deer off the island, as they were not at all 

 afraid of the dog. C — and S — could not get 

 a shot at them as the mangroves were so 

 dense. 



Yours &c, 



F— . 

 Punta Russa, Florida. 



A GENERAL DELUGE. 



BY G. W. BROWN, M.D., ROCKFORD, ILL. 



(Concluded.) 



But they neglect to tell of those illimitable ages, 

 which it enumerated, no one could comprehend, 

 probably not less than six hundred million 

 years, during which every particle of 

 matter, whether dust, or clay, salt, sand, 

 pebble, boulder or rock, mineral or vegetable, 

 found on the earth, or deep below its 

 surface, of which the various geological 

 formations are composed, whether strati- 

 fied or otherwise, overlying the primary 

 rock, more than twenty miles in depth, and in 

 which the fossil remains of by-gone ages are 

 entombed, have been wrested and torn from 

 the elementary rock, worn down by rolling 

 upon each other, and by the action of winds 

 and waves and falling waters, has subsequently 

 been deposited in the beds of oceans, to again 

 harden into rock, giving us the sandstone 

 and limestone formations, the coals, shales, 

 clays and all other rocks and earths, other than 

 the quanz — the parent of them all. 



The mind is overwhelmed as it contemplates 

 the eternity of years which have preceded us, as 

 ttie eternity which lies beyond 1 Truly it may 

 well be said : " We stand midway between 

 two eternities 1 " 



Puny man may seek to abridge the years, 

 and shorten the geological ages ; but the start- 

 ling fact is ever before him that finite mind is 

 incapable of fathoming infinity. He must be- 

 come conscious that chancfe, not destruction, 



