322 WILD LIFE AND THE CAMERA 



who cannot get enough for food purposes. Ducks 

 of several varieties are to be found in immense 

 numbers, both inland and on the coast. Shore 

 birds, too, are abundant, while quail, doves, snipe, 

 plover and curlew are common in suitable locahties. 

 Deer are becoming somewhat scarce, but in the 

 more remote regions they are still to be found. 

 Fox-squirrels, which are excellent eating, are plenti- 

 ful in the cypress swamps, and may often be seen 

 in the pine-lands. Not many years ago wild turkeys 

 were very numerous. To see thirty or forty in a 

 day was not at all unusual, but thanks to the pot- 

 hunters they have been killed off in such numbers 

 that it will be but a short time before they 'wdU no 

 longer be reckoned among the game birds of 

 Florida. The fishing throughout the State is so 

 remarkable that to give any true account of it 

 would be to place oneself in the awkward position 

 of being a teller of fish stories. In the inland 

 waters and on the coast, fishing of many kinds can 

 be had, and the table may be supplied with scarcely 

 any effort. On the west coast oysters are to be 

 had for the gathering. At low tide beds of them 

 may be found scarcely a foot below the surface, 

 while the small " coon oysters " are high and dry. 

 Another article of food furnished by the country 

 is the " cabbage " ^ from the cabbage palmetto. 

 Taking it means killing the tree, but in the wilds, 

 where they are common, that does not matter very 

 much. These cabbages, if young, are palatable 



1 The palmetto cabbage is the core of budding leaves which is 

 cut out of the top of the tree. The outer leaves are peeled off 

 and the inner ones are boiled as cabbage. 



