201 LIFE OF AUDUBON. 



CHAPTEE XXXVI. 



Fifth Florida Episode: Sandy Islabd. 



" I LEFT you abruptly, perhaps uncivilly, reader, at the dawn of 

 day on Sandy Island, which lies just six miles from the exti-eme 

 point of South Florida. I did so because I was amazed at the 

 appearance of things around me, which, in i'act, looked so dif- 

 ferent then from what they seemed at night, that it took some 

 minutes' reflection to account for the change. When we laid 

 ourselves down on the sand to sleep, the waters almost bathed 

 our feet ; when we opened our eyes in the morning, they were 

 at an immense distance. Our boat lay on her side, looking not 

 unlike a whale reposing on a mud-bank ; the birds in myriads 

 were probing their pasture-ground. There great flocks of ibises 

 fed apart from equally large collections of 'god wits,' and thou- 

 sands of herons gracefully paced along, ever and anon thrusting 

 their javelin bills into the body of some unfortunate fish con- 

 fined in a small pool of water. Of fish-crows I could not estimate 

 the number, but from the havoc they made among the crabs, 

 I conjecture that these animals must have been scarce by the 

 time of next ebb. Frigate pelicans chased the jager, which 

 himself had just robbed a poor gull of its prize ; and all the 

 gallinules ran with spread wings from the mud-banks to the 

 thickets of the island, so timorous had they become when they 

 perceived us. Surrounded as we were by so many objects that 

 allured us, not one could we yet attain, so dangerous would it 

 have been to venture on the mud ; and our pilot having assured 



