BIRDS SHOT BY OUR SPORTSMEN. 
113 
joined us, and solemnly lighted Ms pipe by means 
of a burning glass (a large pebble lens without a 
flaw or scratch,) which he mysteriously produced 
,from the folds of his garments. 
As we have everywhere observed along the shores 
of this Gulf, a belt of sandy soil fringes the sea- 
board, where burdock and the yellow toadflax, a 
small blue-flowered iris, the wild onion, and the 
crane's-bill are the only plants, and lizards and 
grasshoppers the only animals. In some parts the 
ground is swampy, and there are several shallow 
snipe-haunted freshwater pools. Here some teal 
and the Garganey duck were shot by our sportsmen, 
besides some curlews and a few golden j)lovers. 
Two species of heron, the gray and the white, are 
common ; and in this locality the godwit, the snipe, 
and the sanderling find themselves at home. In 
the act of demolishing a frog the great bittern w^as 
wounded, and rather astonished the dog “Dash,” 
as, with sharp open beak and bristling loose neck- 
feathers, he fiercely stood at bay. Overhead the 
wild geese and ducks were flying south in im- 
