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 first fire among a crowd of the great god wits laid pros- 

 trate sixty-five of these birds. Rose-colored curlews [Roseate 

 Spoonbills] stalked gracefully beneath the mangroves. Purple 

 herons rose at almost every step we took, and each cactus 



