A &quot;Thousand-Mile Walk 



feet above mean tide-water. It is surrounded 

 by scores of other keys, many of them looking 

 like a clump of palms, arranged like a tasteful 

 bouquet, and placed in the sea to be kept fresh. 

 Others have quite a sprinkling of oaks and 

 junipers, beautifully united with vines. Still 

 others consist of shells, with a few grasses and 

 mangroves, circled with a rim of rushes. Those 

 which have sedgy margins furnish a favorite 

 retreat for countless waders and divers, espe 

 cially for the pelicans that frequently whiten 

 the shore like a ring of foam. 



It is delightful to observe the assembling of 

 these feathered people from the woods and 

 reedy isles ; herons white as wave-tops, or blue 

 as the sky, winnowing the warm air on wide 

 quiet wing; pelicans coming with baskets to 

 fill, and the multitude of smaller sailors of the 

 air, swift as swallows, gracefully taking their 

 places at Nature s family table for their daily 

 bread. Happy birds! 



The mockingbird is graceful in form and a 

 fine singer, plainly dressed, rather familiar in 

 [ i34l 



