1885, | 
have been dictated by telecram. He 
does not sail and circle like his friend 
and comrade, never being distracted by 
soaring pretensions, but goes straight 
to his object. His flight is a regular 
succession of short flaps, with quiescent 
intervals between the series. ‘The flaps 
are usually four, sometimes five or six. 
Iam sure he counts them. You have 
seen a pursy gentleman in black hurry- 
ing along the street and tapping his boot 
with a cane, as though keeping time. 
Fancy this gentleman in the air, dressed 
in feathers, his coat-skirt sheared off 
alarmingly short and square, and look- 
ing like a cherub in jet, all head and 
wings,—although John is not exactly a 
cherub in his habits. A white spot on 
each wing adds a bit of the harlequin to 
his style. 
Were I to seek a “funny man” 
among the quadrupeds, I should name 
another dweller of the Southwestern 
prairies, the jack-rabbit,—John IL. let 
us call him. Nobody ever gets quite 
accustomed to the preternatural ears of 
this hare. In proportion they are to 
those of others of the Leporidze nearly 
what the ears of the mule are to those 
of the horse. When this bit of bad 
drawing, as big as a fawn and weighing 
ten pounds or so, jumps up before you 
and bounds away at railroad speed, he 
makes you rub your eyes. You expect 
the apparition to disappear like other ap- 
paritions, especially as it moves off with 
vast rapidity. But it does not. As 
suddenly as it started it is transformed 
into a prong like an immense letter V, 
projecting in perfect stillness from the 
grass a hundred yards off. You advance, 
and the same proceeding is repeated. 
Jack is obviously deep in guns, and 
knows the difference in power between a 
muzzle- and a breech-loader, if he has not 
ascertained, indeed, what number shot 
you have in your cartridge. He varies his 
distance according to these contingen- 
cies. Only, he has not as yet learned 
to gauge the greyhound: that dog is fre- 
quently kept for his benefit. 
. A special endowment of this imme- 
diate locality is a large and permanent 
BIRDS OF A TEXAN WINTER. 
565 
one, which bears, and deserves, the name 
of Kagle Lake. For, though overhung 
by no cliffs or lofty pines, it is far more 
the haunt of eagles, of both the bald 
and the gray species, than most tarns 
possessing those appendages of the ro- 
mantic. Its dense fringe of fine trees, 
among them live-oaks a single one of 
which would make the fortune of an 
average city park, can well spare the 
Conifers. They are all hung with Span- 
ish moss, a feature which conflicts with 
the impression of lack of moisture con- 
veyed by the light ashen color of the 
bark and short annual growth of many 
of the smaller trees. Here and there 
tiny inlets are overhung with under- 
growth which supplies a safe nesting- 
place to a multitude of birds of many 
kinds. ‘The surface of the lake I have 
never seen free from ducks of one 
species or another, and generally of half 
a dozen. Almost the whole family, if 
we except the canyas-back and the red- 
head, visit it at one or another period. 
One item in their bill of fare is the 
nut of the water-lily, the receptacles of 
which, resembling the rose of a water- 
ing-pot, dot the shallows in great quan- 
tity. The green, cable-like roots of 
this plant are afloat, forming at some 
points heavy windrows. Some say they 
are torn up from the bottom by the alli- 
gators; but it is more probable that 
they are loosened and broken by the 
continual tugging of the divers. The 
alligators are not vegetarians, and they 
are not using their snouts much at this 
season. ‘The young shoots of the Nym- 
pheea are doubtless tempting food, as 
those of the Vallisneria are on the 
Chesapeake and the North Carolina 
sounds. Sustenance may be drawn also 
from the roots of the rushes and reeds 
which cover with their yellow stems 
and leaves many acres of the lake, and 
are thronged now by several species of 
small birds. 
Hawks, of course, are always in sight, 
and that in astonishing variety, from 
the osprey down to two or three va- 
rieties of the sparrow-hawk. A mono- 
graph on the Raptores of Eagle Lake 
sheet of water, three or four miles by ! would be a most comprehensive work. 
Vou. X. N. 8.—38 
