26 WILD WINGS 



The two former flew directly away ; the Man-o'-War Birds, 

 separating from the others, rose higher and higher in a flock, 

 and on almost motionless wings floated over our heads, giving 

 me a couple more pictures. 



Eager to see the nests, we pushed the boat across the 

 narrow channel that, as usual, ran close around the island, 

 and forced our way in through the tangle of mangrove roots 

 and branches. Everything was filthy with droppings, and 

 great was our surprise and disappointment to find that the 

 birds were not nesting. That they resorted there habitually, 

 however, was evident enough. We learned afterwards that 

 it was a regular roosting-place. The birds, though now dis- 

 persed, we saw return that evening in much greater numbers, 

 and when we sailed by here a week or more later, at dusk, 

 there were hundreds of them, on the trees and hovering. 

 Ever since he had known the region, the guide said, this had 

 been the principal resort of these birds in that vicinity, and, 

 inasmuch as all water-birds are very tenacious of their resorts, 

 it is more than probable that it was here Audubon came on 

 his second-day's excursion, and found the Man-o'-War Birds. 

 Before leaving the island I climbed to and examined a great 

 eagle's nest in one of the larger trees. 



It was not till sundown that we were able to warp the schooner 

 out of her sticky resting-place and bid adieu to the returning 

 flocks of night lodgers on Bow-leg Key. We sailed along, 

 dodging shoals, or scraping over them, until about nine 

 o'clock, when we ran aground again. We stayed there till 

 daylight, but then got off easily, managing that day to keep 

 afloat. The wind was light, and we worked leisurely along, 

 seeing a big turtle now and then floating on the surface 

 of the water, and an occasional sea-bird, one of these being 

 a Parasitic Jaeger. In the afternoon we passed Sandy Key, 

 the farthest point that Audubon reached. A few individuals 



