44 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. "^2 



Coot Bay is a fine sheet of water fringed by tall mangroves, show- 

 ing even at this season a sprinkling of water fowl. The evaporation 

 from the lake at night undoubtedly keeps the adjacent region sup- 

 plied with moisture, and is responsible for the large nvunber of epi- 

 phytic plants which render the region a veritable hanging garden. 

 Orchids and tilandsias fairly draped and seemed to almost smother 

 the trees and shrubs. Here we saw quite a number of rare birds, 

 and among them the swallow-tailed kite, of which no less than six 

 specimens were observed in the air at one time. 



On the loth an exploration was made of the region between 

 Flamingo and the middle of the bight between Middle Cape and 



r. 





m^.^y 



t ' '»' *. 



'■kt. -f 





*^..v>'.V 



Fig. 44. — Young great white heron (Ardea occidcntalis) on the 

 lookout for his parents. 



West Cape, but the search was rewarded with only a couple of dead 

 specimens occupied by hermit crabs which probably had been drifted 

 in here by the winds from the Sands Key colony. Ligtuis were 

 found in many places, and so were Oxystyla and other species. 



On the evening of the loth the party headed for Indian Key, stop- 

 ping again at Sands Key, where they fotuid a most remarkable 

 flight of Florida yellow throats. Every tree and every shrub seemed 

 to have on every branch one or more of these little fellows. On the 

 morning of the nth sail was set from Indian Key for the Newfound 

 Harbor group, where the next two days were spent in examining the 

 chain of keys that extends southwest from Big Pine Key, for Cerions 



