44 IN LOWER FLORIDA IVILDS 



as the site of a light house and weather station. 

 On it are a few herbaceous plants — the first forms 

 which nature establishes on newly made tropic 

 land. These are a Tourhfortia, a cousin of the 

 cultivated heliotrope, a hoary leaved half shrub 

 with white blossoms; Sesuvium portulacastrum, a 

 creeper on the sands with thick leaves such as 

 many of the shore plants have, and with it the 

 widespread goat's foot {Ipotnaa pes-caprce). The 

 latter has round, glossy leaves with a cleft at the 

 apex, and large, handsome, purple flowers. With 

 these are a few other salt loving plants. 



On this tiny islet were immense numbers of the 

 least tern {Sterna antillarum), which, at the time 

 of my last visit, were nesting, if simply laying eggs 

 on the open sand could be so called. All of the 

 sandy portion of the key was used for this purpose, 

 and the only preparation for nesting consisted in 

 moving the fragments of coral sufficiently to offer 

 a smooth place on which to sit. I saw no birds 

 actually sitting on eggs ; probably they do this only 

 at night leaving the hot sun to do the work of 

 hatching. They flew around us angry and scream- 

 ing when approached, — a wholly unnecessary 

 demonstration since they are protected by law 



