io6 The Ottawa Naturalist. [September 



My three weeks were only sufficient to enable me to make a good 

 guess at the author. The latter is the most prominent singer in 

 the towns, living all over, and probably nesting in back yards as 

 our Robin does. The Robin was there too, and was much hunted 

 by the poorer people Jo r food. These birds fed mainly on the Palmetto 

 berries in the towns, and were too wild in the woods to be watched. 

 As our visit ended in early March we did not hear a really fine 

 song from the Mocking-bird, but still we found him a fairly con- 

 stant singer. The Cardinal, though conspicuous, had scarcely 

 begun to tune up, but the Carolina Wren, in the woods, gave us 

 beautiful thrush-like songs from little bunches of scrub Palmetto, 

 where he was difficult to see. 



One of the interesting water birds, seen on the Ocklawba 

 River only, was the Limpkin, a large and beautiful Rail-like bird 

 of a rich seal brown colour, with vivid white streaks, which often 

 alights in trees, although its feeding place is the marshy edges of 

 the rivers. The Anhinga, or Snake-bird, was seen once or twice, 

 but never at short range except for a mere glimpse, while the 

 Herons, which were simply innumerable twenty-five years ago, 

 are now nearly extinct, and the few that ate left are wild inhabi- 

 tants of the open country where a near approach is impossible. 



Another bird whose acquaintance we made at the water only, 

 though not a water bird, was the Fish Crow, coloured exactly as 

 our crow, and of the same size, but one could guess them by their 

 flight, and if the bird spoke there was no longer any doubt, as the 

 voice was a harsh weak croak, quite trifling when compared with 

 our vigorous northerners. We saw these birds only when flying 

 to and from the salt water, and had no opportunity of making 

 any closer acquaintance. 



A summary of all the birds seen during the trip, lasting from 

 February 13 till March 3, shows 64 old acquaintances, 6 that are 

 very rare in the north, and 23 that were absolutely new, and while 

 the proportion of well known birds was large, yet the new ones — 

 winter residents of Florida — were in many instances so common 

 and so interesting that it seemed as though there were new ones 

 on hand at every turn. The only nests seen were a few of the 

 liagle and Osprey, along the water courses', and they were inac- 



