208 LIFE OF AUDUBON. 



was now convinced that he possessed a great knowledge of the 

 habits of birds, and could without loss of time lead me to their 

 haunts. We were a hundred miles or so farther to the south. 

 Gay May, like a playful babe, gambolled on the bosom of his 

 mother nature, and everything was replete with life and joy. 

 The pilot had spoken to me of some birds which I was very 

 desirous of obtaining. One morning, therefore, we went in two 

 boats to some distant isle, where they were said to breed. Our 

 difficulties in reaching that key might to some seem more ima- 

 ginary than real, were I faithfully to describe them. Suffice it 

 for me to tell you that, after hauling our boats and pushing 

 them with our hands for upwards of nine miles over the flats, 

 we at last reached the deep channel that usually surrounds each 

 of the mangrove isles. We were much exhausted by the labour 

 and excessive heat, but we were now floating on deep water, 

 and by resting under the shade of some mangroves, we were 

 soon refreshed by the breeze that gently blew from the gulf. 



" The heron which I have named ' Ardea occidental is * was 

 seen moving majestically in great numbers, the tide rose 

 and drove them away, and as they came towards us, to alight 

 and rest for a while on the tallest trees, we shot as many as I 

 wished. I also took under my charge several of their young 

 alive. At another time we visited the ' Mule Keys ;' there the 

 prospect was in many respects dismal enough. As I followed 

 their shores, I saw bales of cotton floating in all the coves, while 

 spars of every description lay on the beach, and far off on the 

 reefs I could see the last remains of a lost ship, her dismasted 

 hulk. Several schooners were around her ; they were ' wreckers.' 

 I turned me from the sight with a heavy heart. Indeed, as I 

 slowly proceeded, I dreaded to meet the floating or cast-ashore 

 bodies of some of the unfortunate crew. Our visit to the ' Mule 

 Keys ' was in no way profitable, for besides meeting with but a 

 few birds, in two or three instances I was, while swimming in 

 the deep channel of a mangrove isle, much nearer a large shark 

 than I wish ever to be again." 



