Following Audubon among the Florida Keys 79 
beautiful specimen of the Physalia, or 
‘“ Portuguese man-o’-war,”’ floating on the 
water, its transparent jelly-like form flash- 
ing in the sunlight, resplendent with blue, 
purple, and rosy hues. It had the curious 
habit of rolling completely over and right 
ing itself again. It swam by means of 
tentacles that streamed down below, and 
was constantly accompanied by a pretty 
little fish, that we afterward saw dead, 
killed by the dangerous tentacles. One of 
our party laid hold of the creature, and be- 
gan to drag it ashore, but he soon let go 
with an exclamation of pain. The cap- 
tive had well used its means of defence, 
and for the next hour my friend was in 
torment, his arm being nearly paralyzed 
up to the shoulder, and aching severely. 
He will be chary 
of these warriors 
hereafter. 
Sailing on again, 
this time south and 
east, late in the 
evening we ap- 
proached Man-o’- 
war Keys, two isl- 
ands, one of them 
a mere ‘‘ bush,”’ or 
clump of man- 
groves, another re- 
puted resort of the 
frigate or man-o’- 
war birds. Early 
in the morning we 
rowed the remain- 
ing mile over the 
soap-flat, to find 
that there were 
very few “men-o’- 
war,”’ but plenty of 
Florida cormo- 
rants, which resort- 
ed to both the isl- 
ands, though not 
to breed. They 
afforded me some 
flight-pictures, and 
some amusement, 
too, when, wading 
around a corner of 
the “man-o’-war 
bush,” I came sud- 
denly close upon a 
number of them on 
the trees of the sub- 
merged inlet. In 
~~ 
> 
their terror many of them dropped like 
stones into the water, as though they had 
fainted, and were lost to sight; others, 
partially recovered, went fluttering along 
the surface. 
ing was on the larger key, where there were 
heir 
empty nests, and another nest belonging 
The only evidence of nest 
a number of great blue herons and 
to a pair of eagles. 
From here we started on for a long 
beat to windward, still south-east, to reach 
a little settlement called Planter, on Key 
Largo, where there was a store—the only 
one in all the region—for provisions were 
running short. It took two days of hard 
work, even to getting overboard to push. 
The rough clearings on the key amid the 
outcropping coral rock certainly looked 
ard 
** Stood like an obelisk.” 
