2 2 Bent, Nesting Habits of Florida Herodiones. \_yz\\ 



land forms, the red mangroves in the centre are gradually replaced 

 by black mangroves. 



On some of the largest, and probably the oldest, keys there are 

 dry, open areas overgrown with grasses and underbrush, the red 

 mangroves remaining only in a narrow strip around the shores. 



There are very few sand keys, which are merely modified mud 

 keys, having beaches of coarse shelly sand replacing the man- 

 groves for portions of their shore line. Most of the outer and 

 lower keys are of coral formation ; they are the most picturesque, 

 the most interesting and the most tropical in appearance of all the 

 keys. They are but scantily covered with a thin, light soil, the 

 coral rock showing through it everywhere, but they generally 

 support a rich tropical vegetation, consisting of cocoanut palms, 

 tamarinds, sapadillos, oranges, lemons, limes, bananas, pine- 

 apples, pawpaws, sisal and various cacti. On the larger keys the 

 edible fruits are largely cultivated by the native ' conchs ' and 

 negroes. 



The mainland, for many miles into the interior, is low and 

 fiat ; the lakes and streams are shallow and brackish ; and the 

 absence of any good drinking water, together with the omnipres- 

 ent swarms of mosquitoes, make collecting in the interior anything 

 but a pleasure. Red mangroves line the shores of all the lakes 

 and streams, and the forests consist mainly of black and white 

 ' buttonwoods,' black mangroves and a few rubber trees. There 

 is a narrow strip of prairie along the southern coast of Monroe 

 County, between the muddy shore and the forest, and at Cape 

 Sable there is a long stretch of high, sandy beaches, these two 

 being the only habitable localities on the mainland. 



I shall now take up the various species of the Order Hero- 

 diones, giving my experience with them, as I found them in 

 Florida, without attempting to describe their habits or distri- 

 bution elsewhere. 



Ajaia ajaja. Roseate Spoonbill. 



This beautiful species, which must be seen in life to be 

 appreciated, is confined, during the breeding season at least, to 

 the extreme southern portions of Florida. The Spoonbills are 



