A "Thousand- Mile Walk 
feet above mean tide-water. It is surrounded 
by scores of other keys, many of them looking 
like a clump of palms, arranged like a tasteful 
bouquet, and placed in the sea to be kept fresh. 
Others have quite a sprinkling of oaks and 
junipers, beautifully united with vines. Still 
others consist of shells, with a few grasses and 
mangroves, circled with a rim of rushes. Those 
which have sedgy margins furnish a favorite 
retreat for countless waders and divers, espe- 
cially for the pelicans that frequently whiten 
the shore like a ring of foam. 
It is delightful to observe the assembling of 
these feathered people from the woods and 
reedy isles ; herons white as wave-tops, or blue 
as the sky, winnowing the warm air on wide 
quiet wing; pelicans coming with baskets to 
fill, and the multitude of smaller sailors of the 
air, swift as swallows, gracefully taking their 
places at Nature’s family table for their daily 
bread. Happy birds ! 
The mockingbird is graceful in form and a 
fine singer, plainly dressed, rather familiar in 
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