Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-06

else along the coast You can run a motor
boat through flock OF ducks and they will
not rise from the water. They will scurry
and splutter to get out of the way, for they
are afraid Of being run over. but that is
the only fear they have. Some Of them are
Of the boat and eat out OF Tie hand But
such confidence in human nature Is only
exhibited within the two-mile limit. Be-
yond that distance q man with q gun can
ducks are very careful to keep inside and
out OF harm. 1t is more than ten years
since the law began to be strictly enforced
and they have learned what II means to
them.
The ducks come and go with the fashion
able world. They appear with the first
winter residents. When the cottagers who
live along the banks Of Lake Worth come
them, and by the time ''tne season" is in
full blast at the big hotels the surface OF
Lake Worth in this neighborhood is covered
with ducks and ducklings. Then, when the
as fashionable tourists do. at various places
along the route. Unlike many of the fash
ionable visitors, however, the ducks always
bring their children along with them.
A cottager who has taken great inter-
est in the birds tells me that last winter
one Of them strayed out beyond the danger
line and came back wounded. His wing
was disabled 80 that he could not fly, and
IN the spring, when the focks migrated
northward, the wounded one was compelled
to remain behind and spend the summer
here. With devotion that Is commenda-
BILE it's mate remained to keep 1t company.
and they spent their time Matching nest
full of little ones. My friend says it Is the
only family Of ducks that he ever knew to
be Matched in this climate.
They tell of a similar manifestation OF
affection and devotion between a white
and blue heron on Soldier Key. A white
heron became prisoner on that island by
accident. Its wing was broken so that 1t
could not fly. 1t could only hop around for
short distances. A blue heron. however,
has taken care of it ever since the acct
dent, and brings it daily a supply of fish.
People who have witnessed the daily meet
ings between the birds declare that they
carry on a conversation vocally and by
sign language. We may assume that the
lame bird is always expressing his graft
tude. while the blue heron is reassuring its
friend of her devotion.
Driftwood From Wrecks.
The Royal Ponciana Hotel, at Palm
Beach, sits in the midst Of a cocoanut
grove, which is said to have sprung
from lot of cocoanuts that were washed
ashore here from the wreck of Cuban
coaster named Ia Providencia forty or
fifty years ago This is a great place for
deodands. Long before the hotels were
DuIil tile CodSt was coio .e'H'is p''i oi0o -,
stormy weather by bleach combers,'
watching for wrecks and for valuable
drftwood. The gulf stream runs only a
mile and half from the beach for nearly
a hundred miles. The prevailing gales are
from the east, and vessels which are
caught In them are frequently driven ashore
or upon the shoals along the coast. where
they are compelled to tighten ship by
throwing overheard their cargoes to es-
cape from the sands.
The Bahama Islands are about sixty
miles due east. and to save time vessels
usually try to run between them and the
main lands. This makes the passage a
continual thoroughfare, and the coast is
sells. Many Of the cabins of fishermen and
wreckers are built of ship timber and fur
nished with fiotsam and jetsam. Slowed
away in atticS and cellars are cases of
merchandise that have floated ashore. In
several of the coast towns you can find
exhibited in curio shops and little museums
strange things that have been tossed up
on the beach by the tide-children's toys,
bottles of all ~hapes and kinds. trunks.
crutches. ladies' bonnets and hats. In one
collection I saw a lead pencil which had
evidently been dropped overheard from
some passing ship, and after being tossed
about for months, and perhaps for years,
found anchorage in the sand and was
picked up by the man who now exhibits 1t.
l saw three trunks that have been washed
ashore within the last two years. and one
of them is said to have contained a con-
siderable sum of money, but no clue to its
ownership has been found.
Strange to say, however, nobody on the
beach, so far as I learn. has ever
found a bottle with letter in it.