Giant Fish of Florida 



BIRD LIFE. 



The bird life of Boca Grand is not sufficiently studied 

 by those who spend their holiday there, so intent is every- 

 one on fishing. Yet it is most interesting, what the plume 

 hunters have left of it. America is the great land of waste 

 as well as of production, and the egrets and other beautiful 

 fowl are surely following the bison. On fine, still days, 

 when there is great splashing of carangoid and other fish, 

 the pelicans are soon astir, dashing into the shoals and 

 putting them to rout with heavy loss. Then, too, may be 

 seen the little kittiwake gulls settling unmolested on the 

 heads and backs of the great birds, and always expectant 

 of the scanty leavings that they never seem to get. 



Pelicans are nowadays so scarce at Boca Grand that 

 any small peculiarity is certain to be noticed whenever 

 one puts in an appearance. I recollect one coming along 

 one day with his pouch slit from side to side and hanging 

 loose. What dreadful battle had given him such a gash 

 could only be guessed, but he seemed to grow thinner 

 and tamer and more hungry every day, for every fish that 

 he caught forthwith dropped out through the gap. At length, 

 however, he seemed to rise to the occasion, and as soon 

 as he caught a fish, he would clap his beak close to his 

 breast and coax his victim down his throat. The process was 

 slow, but sure, and in a few weeks this pelican was well 



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