FUR, FIN, AND FEATHER. 289

 are rather difficult to find, except for a party specially hunt-
 ing them, and prepared to go to the remoter sections of the
 State, where settlers are few.
 Alligator-shooting is too easy to be mentioned among
 the resources of the genuine sportsman. It may be enjoyed
 anywhere, especially on the upper St. John's and in the
 swamps; but, like buffalo-shooting out West, it is so tame,
 after the first excitement of seeing this peculiar game, that
 it becomes rather tiresome. The killing of them has now
 become a regular occupation, the skins being an article of
 commerce and exported in large quantities. The smaller
 game is extremely plentiful everywhere, and includes rac-
 coons, opossums, squirrels (the Southern fox-squirrel and
 the gray squirrel), and rabbits.
 Of Florida, much more accurately than of most other
 places to which the term is applied, it may be said that it
 is "a paradise for sportsmen." "In the immediate vicinity
 even of such centers of population as Jacksonville, St. Au-
 gustine, and Tallahassee," says a trustworthy writer, "there
 is excellent sport for either the angler or the huntsman, and
 it is only necessary to penetrate a short distance into the
 country in any direction in order to find game incredible in
 quantity and variety. One great advantage which Florida
 offers to sportsmen is that, owing to the extreme mildness
 of its climate, what is called 'roughing it' is a much less
 trying process than perhaps anywhere else in America. By
 taking only the most obvious precautions as to clothing,
 etc., even invalids may camp out for weeks with substan-
 tially no risk; and, so much of the locomotion being by
 water, there is comparatively little likelihood of exhausting
 fatigue. Some of the most ardent of every season's sports-
 men belong to the class of 'consumptives' who, before
 reaching Florida, were afraid to venture out of the house
after sunset."