FLORIDA PRAIRIES AND VIRGINIA MOUNTAINS 285 



of unusual precipitation nearly the entire area is 

 submerged, suggesting the probability that this 

 was once the floor of a sheet of water similar to 

 Lake Okeechobee. 



Coarse wiry grasses, a growth of dwarf huckle- 

 berry, and scrubby clumps of saw palmetto are 

 the characteristic forms of plant life. Now and 

 again at long intervals the monotony of the scene 

 is varied. Isolated patches of pine forest of a few 

 acres, and small " bayheads " of deciduous trees, 

 appear above the level, like miniature islands in a 

 lake. The conditions that obtain are not unlike 

 parts of the prairies in Texas, and a similar, arid, 

 desolate appearance distinguishes both. Mak- 

 ing a camp in the hammock near the river, 

 for a week in April, daily trips were undertaken, 

 to learn something of the bird life that charac- 

 terized this prairie. 



Birds there were in abundance and variety. 

 Wild turkeys, pileated woodpeckers, sandhill 

 cranes, ducks, and herons abounded ; besides 

 throngs of many kinds of small birds were every- 

 where. While these presented groups of sufficient 

 interest, they were not what I sought to study in 

 visiting this remote place. 



One of the birds of the plains characteristic of 

 the plains was prominent ; the burrowing owl was 

 plentiful, and generally distributed. This last con- 

 dition precludes one of the salient habits of these 



