Giant Fish of Florida 
BrirD LIFE. 
The bird life of Boca Grand is not sufficiently studied 
by those who spend their holiday there, so intent is every- 
one on fishing. Yet it is most interesting, what the plume 
hunters have left of it. America is the great land of waste 
as well as of production, and the egrets and other beautiful 
fowl are surely following the bison. On fine, still days, 
when there is great splashing of carangoid and other fish, 
the pelicans are soon astir, dashing into the shoals and 
putting them to rout with heavy loss. Then, too, may be 
seen the little kittiwake gulls settling unmolested on the 
heads and backs of the great birds, and always expectant 
of the scanty leavings that they never seem to get. 
Pelicans are nowadays so scarce at Boca Grand that 
any small peculiarity is certain to be noticed whenever 
one puts in an appearance. I recollect one coming along 
one day with his pouch slit from side to side and hanging 
loose. What dreadful battle had given him such a gash 
could only be guessed, but he seemed to grow thinner 
and tamer and more hungry every day, for every fish that 
he caught forthwith dropped out through the gap. At length, 
however, he seemed to rise to the occasion, and as soon 
as he caught a fish, he would clap his beak close to his 
breast and coax his victim down his throat. |The process was 
slow, but sure, and in a few weeks this pelican was well 
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