LETTERS FROM ALABAMA. 33 
the river expanded into a silvery lake, then nar- 
rowed to a gorge, between beetling precipices of 
limestone rising perpendicularly to the height of 
several hundred feet. 
I was surprised to observe so exceedingly little 
of animal life : scarcely a single insect (except the 
fireflies) was to be seen during the whole voyage 
up, and very few birds. The depth of the forest is 
not favourable to the development of animal 
existence ; the edges of the woods, or open plains, 
where light is abundant, where flowers bloom, and 
herbs seed, are the resorts of birds and insects ; and 
on this account, these charming visitants are found 
to swarm when man has made a clearing, even in 
the spot where before scarcely an individual could 
have been found, A few I saw : the blue heron 
{Ardea ccerulea)^ with double neck and stretched- 
out legs, slowly flapped his great wings, in his 
heavy flagging flight from shore to shore ; the 
belted kingfisher {Alcedo alcyon) shot along with 
a harsh rattling laugh, or sitting on some low 
projecting branch, suddenly plunged headlong into 
the water beneath, and instantly emerged with his 
prey; the wood-duck {Anas sponsa) flew shyly 
along the margin, close to the water, beneath the 
overhanging bushes ; now and then we overtook a 
water-tortoise {Emys) swimming at the surface, his 
body submerged, poking up his head at intervals 
with a timid curiosity, to see what all the noise was 
about. 
There is perhaps no river so winding as the 
Alabama. The boat’s head is turned towards every 
point of the compass, and that often within the 
space of a few minutes : sometimes we may make a 
run of fifty miles, and be then within three miles of 
