:::::::::*• TWO BIRD -LOVERS IN MEXICO Sfe"""" 



Man-o'-War. Its tiny bladder-sail was buoyant and f uU- 

 stretclied, reflecting all the hues of the rainbow, and 

 the curlino- tentacles trailed after. At siii'ht of it a 

 thousand memories of palm-studded shores rushed over 

 us, and, looking up, we realized that the miles had 

 slipped j)ast more quickly than we thought, for only 

 a short distance away was the Avliite beach of mid- 

 Florida. It was there — we can discern almost the 

 very spot — that last Avinter we watched so many hun- 

 dreds of fleets of these selfsame Men-o'-War come to 

 grief, wrecks innumerable, but exquisite even in their 

 death. 



We now edo-ed inshore still closer. The o"lass 

 showed every familiar feature ; the feathery cabbage- 

 palms, tall and graceful ; the dense, stiff palmettoes ; 

 now and then a little cloud of Sanderlino-s bloAvins: 

 seaward and back again ; and, finally, a long dark 

 undulating line, now throbbing with action, now mov- 

 ing smoothly, and we knew that the Brown Pelicans 

 were on the way to their fishing-grounds. A flock of 

 Bluebills passed swiftly, and high over the land hung 

 the Vultures, forever Avaiting and watching. Once, 

 with the glass, we made out a mass of circling, soar- 

 ing birds. This is the aerial guard of Pelicans watch- 

 ing over their islet in Indian River, where last year 

 we saw hundreds of nests, eggs, and young birds, all 

 crowded closely together on a low island of some 

 three acres' extent. Throuoh an inlet we causfht a 



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