44 THE JOURNAL OF TH?: 



ka quite to Enterprise, flxr up the ''Great River." To the east- 

 ward. bet^Yeen the St. Johns and the sea, the conthiuous belt 

 is more broken, as it is so encroached upon by the pine woods 

 in the rougher sections that the denser woorlhmd is repre- 

 sented only by detached bits of "hummock," each contain- 

 ing but a few acres of trees; or by cabbage flats, sections 

 covered with a dense growth of palmettos- On Indian 

 River and about its head the country once again becomes 

 a continuous '^ hummock," and is known as ''TurnbuH's 

 Swamp," which extends from Sand Point quite to New 

 Smyrna. 



The whole of this woodland is the resort of the Ivory- 

 billed Woodpecker and I have seen specimens from nearly 

 ever}' portion of it, all of them taken during the last twelve 

 or fifteen years. Yet how restricted is the range of this 

 noble Woodpecker compared to what it was in former years ! 

 For unless it still occurs in the State of Mississippi, which is 

 doubtful, an area of one hundred miles long by say fifty 

 broad will enclose its present residence. 



To crown all this the bird is nowhere common in this 

 section; indeed it is quite rare in many places and is grad- 

 ually growing less and less common. Why this is so I am 

 unable to conjecture. At one time I was inclined to con- 

 sider that constant persecution of man was the cause of its 

 extinction, and while this may have been indirectly the 

 reason in other sections I hardly think it true in regard to 

 Florida. 



Last winter while visithig a portion of the woodland of 

 which I have spoken, known as the "Gulf Hummocks," I 

 found that the hunters seldom if ever shot one; indeed I 

 could only learn of a single pair having been killed during 

 several years. I had at one time as many as ten men 

 searching: for them, and then 1 only secured ^Xyh pairs in a 



