34 Big Game Fishes 
Key, rising apparently from the sea, is the first 
intimation that Garden Key and its satellites are 
in sight. Soon other keys appear, low sandy 
islands, capped with vivid greens— bay cedar 
and cactus — between which winds a channel so 
deep and narrow, so blue and beautiful in its clear- 
ness, that the angler in this out-of-the-way corner 
may well wonder by what trick of nature it was 
formed. It surrounds Garden Key, being in turn 
hedged by an outer fringing reef upon which the 
sea breaks; now in soft monotone, or when a 
norther rises, forming a vast semicircle of foam 
from which rise weird and terrifying sounds, the 
grinding and gnashing of the teeth of the reef, as 
the dead coral heads are rolled hither and yon by 
the incoming and receding waves. 
In the nooks and corners of this channel the 
gray snapper makes its home, and that it has 
the love of locality strongly developed, the home 
instinct if you will, is evident from the fact that 
week after week, month after month, certain 
fishes are found in the same places. A certain 
wreck was a favorite spot where the gray snap- 
pers congregated. The old ship had long since 
disappeared below the surface, but her huge tim- 
bers still projected from the sand, forming a cover- 
