THE OOLOGIST. 



199 



which we were fortunate enough to se- 

 cure. 



The next morning the weather con- 

 ditions were somewhat better. After 

 purchasing a few supplies at one of 

 the Deep Creek stores, we commenced 

 the voyage to Lake Drummond. Our 

 host of the preceeding night had told 

 us of a lock keeper at the lake who 

 would put us up, and, since the weath- 

 er was so rainy, we decided to stop 

 with him if possible. After rowing 

 for a couple of miles we tied the tent 

 canvass to an oar, which made a first 

 rate sail, and used the tent rope for a 

 sheet. With this rig we made the 

 next ten or twelve miles up the canal 

 in good time, passing several launches 

 and the town of Walliston on the way. 

 This part of the canal had higher 

 banks and less in the way of trees 

 along the banks, although in places 

 there were plenty of trees. Some three 

 miles above Walliston we came upon 

 the mouth of the feeder ditch, as the 

 portion of the canal which branches 

 off to the lake is called. 



This feeder is in some places not 

 more than fifteen feet wide and there 

 was a dredge in it at this time deepen- 

 ing, and I believe widening the 

 channel. This dredge very nearly 

 blocked our passage and we had quite 

 a time getting by it. The feeder is 

 three miles long and a hard pull on 

 account of the force of the water flow- 

 ing from the lake into the canal. 



On arriving at the lock, which is 

 within a few hundred yards of the 

 lake, we disembarked and proceeded 

 to get acquainted with the lock keeper. 

 He proved to be very pleasant and 

 readily agreed to our making his 

 shack our headquarters. 



We borrowed his boat, which was 

 above the lock, and made our first 

 visit to the lake. It was a beautiful 

 sight, almost a perfect circle of water, 

 of the same dark color as that in the 

 canal, about three miles in diameter 



and surrounded by a growth of high 

 trees, mostly gums, cypress and juni- 

 per. Almost all the way round, ex- 

 tending from the shore to a distance 

 of one or two hundred feet into the 

 water, were a lot of cypress stumps 

 and dead cypress trees, most of them 

 covered with hanging moss. 



We spent two days at the lake, dur- 

 ing which time it rained, so that we 

 were unable to get many pictures or 

 take the extended trips about the 

 swamp which we had hoped to do. 

 However, we managed to get around 

 considerable and found out many 

 things about the swamp and its 

 animal fauna. 



Birds were quite numerous. I saw 

 many Pileated Woodpeckers, "good 

 gods" the swampers call them. There 

 is a small herd of wild cattle near the 

 lake. Bear, judging from the ac- 

 counts given us, are still fairly plenti- 

 ful and those who understand hunting 

 them, get several each year. They 

 weigh generally about two hundred 

 pounds when dressed. Deer are get- 

 ting very scarce. The old practice of 

 driving them to the lake with hounds 

 and killing them while they were 

 swimming has almost cleaned them 

 out. Gray squirrels are still very 

 plentiful. Ducks are said to frequent 

 the lake in real cold weather and fish 

 are said to be plentiful in the right 

 season. One of the swampers told me 

 that "in the Spring we get all kinds of 

 fish." They certainly were not plenti- 

 ful at the time of our visit. We saw 

 no poisonous snakes, though several 

 species of the non-venomous sort were 

 observed. The list of birds seen and 

 identified during our two days at the 

 lake, comprises twenty-nine species. 

 Several other species were noted but 

 their identity was not positively 

 established. The twenty-nine species 

 are as follows: Great Blue Heron, 

 Green Heron, Black Crowned Night 

 Heron, Solitary Sandpiper, Mourning 



