THE MUSEUM. 



245 



nolia bush. It was placed about four 

 feet from the water, was quite flat, 

 about a foot in diameter, was com- 

 posed of sticks quite carelessly arrang- 

 ed, lined with a few dry heads of saw 

 grass and contained one egg. Upon 

 dissecting the female we found an egg 

 just ready to be laid, but unspotted, 

 being blue in color throughout. 



Previous to this we had become ac- 

 quainted with the Seminoles. The 

 knowledge which these people possess 

 of Natural History is surprising, inas- 

 much as they probably never saw a 

 naturalist and if they had would not 

 have learned much from him, for they 

 speak but little English. Among 



those particularly noticeable was Tiger 

 Tail, the son of Arenameed chief by 

 the same name, who so bravely with- 

 stood the whites during the last Sem- 

 inole wars. Tiger, as we familiarly 

 called him, was a stalwart, finely 

 formed man, about thirty years of age, 

 with a handsome, expressive counte- 

 nance and bright, intelligent-looking 

 eyes. Besides being a man of influ- 

 ence in his tribe he was a fine hunter 

 and his wigwam never lacked venison. 

 He not only knew the different mam- 

 mals of the country but also readily 

 distinguished and named the various 

 species of birds that we showed him. 

 Every one, excepting a few of the 

 smaller Warblers that only winter in 

 Florida, had its Seminole name. Even 

 insects were known by particular ap- 

 pellations, and Tiger has frequently 

 showed me the chrysalis of some but- 

 terfly or moth and afterwards pointed 

 out in my collection the species that 

 came from it. 



The Everglade Kite was at once 

 recognized as so-far-fun-i-car and its 

 place of residen-ce said to be Pi-i-o-hee. 



We explained to Tiger that we were 

 anxious to procure so-far-fun-i-car 

 sas-ta-kar (Kites' eggs) and he prom- 

 ised to look out for them. The other 

 Indians, who visited us and exhibited 

 much interest in our pursuits, were 

 also made to understand that we / 

 wanted eggs. 



After discovering the nest, as narrat- 

 ed, we were slowly returning home- 

 wards, when we perceived a Black- 

 necked Stilt standing on the margin 

 of the river, near the rapids. We shot 

 at it and as the report of our guns 

 rang out we heard the friendly whoop 

 of an Indian. We were accustomed 

 to this cry and immediately answered 

 it, then turning in the direction from 

 whence the sound came we saw a 

 canoe containing the lithe form of a 

 Seminole glide out from a neighboring 

 cypress swamp and as he came rapidly 

 nearer we recognized Billy, son-in-law 

 of the old chief Ellick. When he 

 came near enough for us to discern his 

 face we saw that he had something to 

 tell. He pushed up and we exchang- 

 ed the usual salutations. After this I 

 showed him our precious nest and egg 

 and explained where we had found 

 them; then asked if he could procure 

 any like them. He listened gravely 

 until I had finished and then said 

 simply, "Megotum." "What.'" we 

 both exclaimed. "So-far-fun-i-car 



sas-ta-kar" he quietly answered. 

 "Where.'" we asked. Billy said noth- 

 ing but led the way to the bow of his 

 canoe and pointed to an old tin dipper. 

 We looked into it and saw two Ever- 

 glade Kite eggs lying in the bottom. 

 It may be assumed that I was not 

 long in transferring them to a safer 

 place, while my companion gave vent 

 to his delight in some whoops and a 



