108 LIVING LIGHTS. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



LUMINOUS BIRDS AND OTHER ANIMALS. 



IN floating over the great coral reef of the Florida penin- 

 sula one day, the boat startled a number of large cranes 

 which were standing upon a small key ; and, as they laboriously 

 flew away, my companion, a sportsman of experience, related 

 to me the following incident : " Some years ago," he said, " I 

 was much more confined than I am at present, and rarely 

 had an opportunity of enjoying hunting during the day-time ; 

 so I began a series of moonlight excursions about the reef, 

 generally securing a green turtle, if nothing else, and occa- 

 sionally a large bird. 



" One evening I visited one of the large keys ; and before 

 I was ready to return the moon had gone down, leaving me 

 in the dark. It was a perfectly calm night, not a ripple 

 appearing upon the water, so that every sound was heard 

 with striking distinctness ; and the break of the sea upon the 

 outer reef came to me in a sullen roar, occasionally varied by 

 the crash of some huge fish as it left the water. I was making 

 my way to my boat, when suddenly I perceived on the sands 

 several dim lights. Thinking it the reflection of the stars 

 upon the water, perhaps, I pushed on ; and when I was 

 almost upon them, there came a flapping of wings, while 

 above I saw indistinctly the forms of several large cranes, 



