184 YELLOW-WINGED SPARROW.
tail wood-brown, slightly edged with paler, wing-coverts light brown, the
central parts of the feathers darker. There is a narrow white line over
the eye, and the minute feathers margining the eyelids are of the same
colour. The throat and fore-neck are white. A line of short brownishblack
streaks passes on either side from the base of the lower mandible,
separating a narrow portion of the white space, and margining the lower
part of it, although there the streaks are scattered; the middle part of
the breast and abdomen are also greyish-white.
Length 5f inches, extent of wings 9 ; bill along the ridge T
7g ; tarsus
i § .
i n t e r n y;rg
• ••
( ®& )
DEATH OF A P I R A T E .
IN the calm of a fine moonlight night, as I was admiring the beauty
of the clear heavens, and the broad glare of light that glanced from the
trembling surface of the waters around, the officer on watch came up and
entered into conversation with me. He had been a turtler in other years,
and a great hunter to boot, and although of humble birth and pretensions,
energy and talent, aided by education, had raised him to a higher station.
Such a man could not fail to be an agreeable companion, and we talked
on various subjects, principally, you may be sure, birds and other natural
productions. He told me he once had a disagreeable adventure, when
looking out for game, in a certain cove on the shores of the Gulf of
Mexico; and, on my expressing a desire to hear it, he willingly related
to me the following particulars, which I give you, not perhaps precisely
in his own words, but as nearly so as I can remember.
" Towards evening, one quiet summer day, I chanced to be paddling
along a sandy shore, which I thought well fitted for my repose, being covered
with tall grass, and as the sun was not many degrees above the
horizon, I felt anxious to pitch my musquito bar or net, and spend the
night in this wilderness. The bellowing notes of thousands of bull-frogs
in a neighbouring swamp might lull me to rest, and I looked upon the
flocks of blackbirds that were assembling as sure companions in this secluded
retreat.
I proceeded up a little stream, to insure the safety of my canoe from
any sudden storm, when, as I gladly advanced, a beautiful yawl came unexpectedly
in view. Surprised at such a sight in a part of the country
then scarcely known, I felt a sudden check in the circulation of my blood.
My paddle dropped from my hands, and fearfully indeed, as I picked it
up, did I look towards the unknown boat. On reaching it, I saw its sides
marked with stains of blood, and looking with anxiety over the gunwale,
I perceived to my horror, two human bodies covered with gore. Pirates
or hostile Indians I was persuaded had perpetrated the foul deed, and
my alarm naturally increased; my heart fluttered, stopped, and heaved
with unusual tremors, and I looked towards the setting sun in consternation
and despair. How long my reveries lasted I cannot tell; I can only
recollect that I was roused from them by the distant groans of one appa