AMONG THE FLORIDA KEYS 



21 



exquisite pale emerald green of such wonderful intensity and 

 brilliance, the critic would surely declare it exaggerated and 

 unnatural. Overhead sailed the Frigate Pelican, or Man-o'- 

 War Bird, that wonder- 

 ful aeronaut of tropical 

 waters, while the Brown 

 Pelican flapped along or 

 plunged into the brine 

 after the fish. Then we 

 anchored for the night 

 at Caesar's Creek, the last 

 channel for many a mile 

 out into the open sea. 

 Just as we did so, a great 

 dark bird of prey, that I 

 took to be a Caracara 

 Eagle, flew directly over 

 us, seemingly almost 

 minded to alight upon 

 the mast-head. Then fol- 

 lowed a pull in the skiff 

 along the mangrove 

 thickets at the edge of 



the keys, where I noted various herons and numbers of migra- 

 tory Pigeon Falcons, as well as many small birds. 



A study of the coast-chart was now illuminating to us as 

 it had never been before. Here was the outer chain of long, 

 narrow islands forming a parallel breakwater for the Florida 

 coast from Miami away out beyond Key West, some two 

 hundred miles. These were of another type from the little 

 round mangrove keys of mud in that they were originally 

 coral reefs, upon which soil had been deposited. They are 

 now densely wooded, and are used for the cultivation of 



'THE MAX-O-WAR BIRD, THAT WONDERFUL 

 AERONAUT OF TROPICAL WATERS'' 



