AMONG THE FLORIDA KEYS 
31 
no bird-rookeries on it now, I was anxious to examine the 
island where Audubon passed the night under the mosquito 
net, which he so vividly describes in one of his “ Episodes.” 
With a good easterly wind we were there by noon, and, hav¬ 
ing eaten, hurried to go ashore. This key is long and narrow. 
YOUNG ward’s herons. “MAKING VICIOUS LUNGES ” 
over a mile from end to end, is wooded, except for some open 
plots of grass and cacti, and is graced with a genuine beach 
of shell-sand. 
When Audubon landed here years ago, he records that 
“ our hrst fire among a crowd of the great godwits laid pros¬ 
trate sixty-five of these birds. Rose-colored curlews [Roseate 
SjDoonbills] stalked gracefully beneath the mangroves. Purple 
herons rose at almost every step we took, and each cactus 
