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.A FLORIDA COKMORAJV'T 

 HOOKER r. 



V.\ I. C. CAHOON. 



On the morning ofAjjril 24th, 1884, 

 •A ciitboat was tLishing swiflly along, off 

 the south-west coast of Florida, before 

 a fresh wind and fair tide. The boat 

 cc^ntained my brother and I, who were 

 leturning from a winter's collecting trip 

 abcjut Charlotte Harbor. It was a typi- 

 cal Florida day, the sun was shining 

 brightly overhead, a cool, crisp salt 

 breeze blowing, with miles ol blue water 

 and hundreds of small white-caps. On 

 the shore side we were passing pines, 

 mangroves, jialmettoes and bayous. 

 On the other side the blue waters of the 

 Gulf of Mexico stretched away for miles 

 with now and then a white sail or the 

 smoke of a distant steamboat. I was 

 watching the shore, and had just sighted 

 the buoy in the channel off the Homos- 

 assa River, when my brother called my 

 attention to two small islands ahead, 

 over which large numbers of l)irds 

 could be seen flying. There are many 

 small islands and oyster-reefs about the 

 ejitrance of the Homosassa River and 

 vicinity, and the two over which the 

 birds were hovering were the outer ones, 

 being situated about two miles from 

 tlie mainland and one mile out from the 

 (jlher islands. We were on the lookout 



for lie on and seabird rookerys, and so 

 headed our boat for the first island. As 

 we aj^proached the island the water be- 

 gan to get shoal, and we weie obliged 

 to keep a sharp watch for oyster reefs 

 which were so abundant along this part 

 of the coast. After tacking, keeping 

 off, and not without running aground 

 several times, we got within ten yards 

 of the island and anchored. The air 

 was dark with birds, which proved to be 

 frigates, or man-of-war birds, and as we 

 waded ashore hundreds left the man- 

 grove trees and bushes. 



TO J3E CONTINUED. 



THE CARE AJVD AR- 

 RAJVGEMEJV'T OF EGGS. 



NoticeingC. W. Swallow's inquiry in 

 your November issue, as to the best ar- 

 ticle to lay eggs on in the cabinet, I 

 will give my plan, which is followed by 

 some, if not all the largest collectors in 

 the country. Sawdust is bad in every 

 way. It is apt to get into the eggs, and 

 in the case of some very delicate shells, 

 even that weight may be sufficient to 

 break them if they are frequently hand- 

 led. Besides this it looks bad and lit- 

 ters up the drawers. Cotton has not 

 these objections, still it is not desireable. 



The simplest way is, to get trays made 

 of pasteboard, of a size that will fit into 

 the drawers, and not too large to hold 



