A Thousand-Mile JValk 



feet above mean tide-water. It is surrounded 

 by scores of other keys, many of them looking 

 Hke 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 

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