206 Mr. G. C. Taylor on the Birds of Florida. 



From subsequent experience I feel certain that the birds seen on 

 that occasion were not Nyctidromi, but either Night-Hawks or 

 some birds very similar to them. The Night-Hawks are com- 

 mon even as far north as Quebec, where I observed them to- 

 wards the end of September : they are commonly known by 

 the name of " Bull-Bats." Bed-bellied and Bed-cockaded Wood- 

 peckers were common about Orange-Mills, and easily obtained. 

 I searched closely for Florida Jays, but never met with them. I 

 showed the bird to several persons, and they were not acquainted 

 with it, nor did they even recollect having seen one before. 



I made an excursion for some miles into the " piny woods " 

 east of the St. John^s Biver, but found very little to reward me. 

 I killed a fine specimen of the Blue Heron, and a Black Squirrel, 

 a male — the largest I ever saw, fully as large as a half-grown 

 cat. Although the prevailing colour is black, it is also distinctly 

 marked with red and grey. 1 saw a single flock of ten or a 

 dozen Parroquets, and next day went again to the same locality 

 in search of them, but without success. I have never met with 

 these birds twice in the same place, and it seems to be mere 

 chance to meet with them at all. I was told by an old resident 

 in Florida, who had served during the Indian war, that formerly 

 they were plentiful about the Indian villages. But that is all 

 changed now. All the Indians, except some twenty or thirty, 

 have been removed from Florida, and the Parroquets have con- 

 siderably diminished. The Chuck- Will's- Widow was tolerably 

 common at Orange-Mills ; but the difficulty of obtaining this 

 bird may be known by the fact, that I was out fourteen or fifteen 

 evenings before I obtained one, and then had to shoot when the 

 bird was so close that the plumage was much damaged by the shot. 

 An evening or two later I killed two, one of which I was unable 

 to find. The other fell among a thick brake of saw-palmettos, 

 and I could not find it until next morning. The Chuck- Will's- 

 Widows fly low, and sit on rails, stumps of trees, and other low 

 places, which increases the difficulty of seeing them in the dusk 

 of the evening. If they roost on the ground in the daytime, they 

 might probably be hunted up with dogs. I saw no signs what- 

 ever of small birds nesting up to the time I left Orange- Mills. 



By the 18th of April I had pretty well used up this locality. 



