30 WILD WINGS 



admiring him, and screwing up my photographic apparatus^ 

 he never moved, nor did he at the critical moments of ex- 

 posure. Then, as I would stir him up a bit, he retreated out 

 to a branch, where he stood like a statue or obelisk, showing 

 his high breeding in every inch of his splendid stature, while 

 I again took his picture, after which I gratefully bade him 

 farewell. 



Not so well-bred were a trio in a neighboring nest, about 

 half grown. These were of the sulky sort, and obstinately 

 lay down, refusing to stand, in spite of all I could do, though 

 the guide climbed up and did his best to make them behave. 

 Another nest with two very young fledglings also gave me 

 trouble. There was no point of vantage, save from almost 

 directly above ; it was in the shade, and the breeze was sway- 

 ing everything, and the youngsters, as is the way with small 

 feathered fry, were squirming al)()ut like worms. However, 

 I conquered them, and tht-n climbed to a rather lofty nest, 

 near by, of the Ward's Heron, — a species thought by some 

 to be only a peninsular race of the familiar Great Blue Heron, 

 — whose two youthful inmates were very ferocious, and 

 spent their time making vicious lunges at me with their 

 bills, accompanied by the harshest expletives of the heron 

 tongue. I (lid not catch sight of their parents, but now 

 and then a Great White Heron Haj^ped warily overhead at 

 a safe distance, to reconnoitre. What an aggravation it is 

 to photograph a flying snow-white heron against a clear blue 

 sky, and find that as both cannot be white, it is the heron 

 that has to be falsely portrayed as black ! 



Having secured another, and nameless, vessel, no better 

 than the Maggie, as it proved, except that it was of lighter 

 draught, we started off for a general exploration of the inac- 

 cessible keys of the inner bays. First, however, we sailed 

 westward to Sandy Key. Though the guide said there were 



