A MORNING WITHOUT THE BIRDS. 
/^\N the 8th day of August, 1881, the good yacht Au Revoir 
started from, the neighborhood of Islip, well provisioned 
for a two weeks’ trip, and carrying its load of piscatorial sci¬ 
ence safely housed in its comfortable cabin of some ten feet 
square and five feet high. Extensive accommodations are 
not a feature of the yachts of southern Long Is’and, for the 
reason that while the bay is sixty miles long and four wide 
it is for the most part less than two feat deep. The true 
yachtsman, however, can “stow” himself, and a prodigious 
deal besides, in a very sma’l space, and “ our voyagers ” were 
natumlly good yachtsmen as well as great fishculturists. 
;; Unfortunately the Commissioner is fond of gunning, and ha3 
jj long held the theory, which no amount of experience has re- 
1 , moved, that there will some time or other be a great flight of 
, snipe along the beach on the south of the bay. So he in- 
sis'ed on bringing guns, cartridges, snipe decoys and all 
that along; and, more unfortunately still, he made up his 
mind from the signs in the heavens, the direction of the 
wind, or the motion of the tides, that the ninth day of August 
was the day on which this flight would take pi ice. With 
this idea in his heart he headed the Au Revoir to the east, 
intending first to investigate that part of the water which 
was contiguous to the be3t sniping grounds. 
No one who has not enjoyed the comforts of a cabin ten 
feet square, with just height of ceiling enough to enable one 
when sitting on the berth—which answers the double purpose 
of settee by day and bed by night—to take a drink of wa‘er 
without hitting one’s head against the timbers of the roof, 
can imagine how snug it is. And when their first destina¬ 
tion had been reached, anchor let go and sails furled, the ex- 
piorers found the night settling down upon them and were 
g’ad to take refuge in the’r cosey home, get out their table 
luxuries and superintend the cooking of their meal. Appe- 
