404 Bird - Lore 



as the Florida Red-shouldered Hawk, Florida Barred Owl, Yellow-billed 

 Cuckoo, Pileated Woodpecker, Crested Flycatcher, Acadian Flycatcher, 

 Cardinal, White-eyed Vireo, Prothonotary Warbler, Swainson's Warbler, 

 Parula Warbler, and CaroUna Wren. 



It was on the prairies, however, that I entertained hopes of finding some of 

 the rarest and most interesting of the wading birds. These prairies vary greatly 

 in extent, — from ten or fifteen square miles to only an acre or two, — and are 

 scattered throughout the swamp. Among the largest are Chase Prairie and 

 Floyd's Island Prairie, both of which I carefully reconnoitered. Heavy spring 

 rains in 191 2 had caused an extraordinary depth of water in all parts of the 

 Okefenoke, and in May the prairies were practically lakes, the deeper parts 

 grown with such plants as the white and yellow water-HUes, and the shal- 

 lower places with maiden cane, saw-grass, and pickerel weed. I w^as informed 

 by inhabitants of the swamp, some of whom possess a surprising knowledge of 

 its bird, animal, and plant life, and also by surveyors and lumbermen, that 

 considerable numbers of wading birds, including Egrets and Ibises, were 

 foimd there regularly, and nested in the small clumps of cypresses, known 

 locally as 'heads' or 'houses,' that dot the prairies. And there is every reason 

 for believing that in ordinary dry seasons these remote and seldom-visited 

 prairies, with their vast numbers of frogs and fishes, should form a splendid 

 feeding-ground for nesting Herons. At the time of my visit, however, the 

 exceptionally high water had apparently driven most of the waders to nesting- 

 places outside of the Okefenoke. For instance, on the whole wide expanse of 

 Chase Prairie, I found, of wading birds, only Ward's Heron, the Green Heron, 

 and the Sandhill Crane — and not a dozen of these all told. 



Among the important waterways are the following, all connected with 

 each other by more or less navigable 'runs:' the 'Big Water' and Minne's 

 Lake, comparatively deep and open parts of the same long, narrow stream in 

 the northern part of the swamp; Billy's Lake, some three miles long and fifty 

 yards wide, through which most of the water of the swamp flows into the far- 

 famed Suwannee River on the southwest; and the logging-canal, dredged for 

 eleven or twelve miles through the eastern part of the swamp in the '90's, but 

 now abandoned. The St. Mary's River also flows out on the southeast. 



Of water-birds I observed the ten following species in the swamp: Water- 

 Turkey, Wood Duck, White Ibis, Wood Ibis, Ward's Heron, Little Blue 

 Heron, Green Heron, SandhiU Crane, Limpkin, and Spotted Sandpiper. 



The Water-Turkeys, of which I saw twenty-five or thirty individuals, 

 are congregated chiefly along the 'Big Water.' Several nests were located in 

 a cypress 'head' on Floyd's Island Prairie. 



The Wood Ducks are also most numerous on the 'Big Water,' though num- 

 bers of them may be found on aU the other waterways. 



Eight or nine White Ibises were observed in the northern part of the swamp. 

 This is one of the species which were reported as common in other years. 



