THE OSPREY. 



101 



CIa>--CMi..r(_-<l Sj).' 



Adult Shuit*eai'ed Owl. from life. 



Nest and Kggs of Baird's Sparrow. 



THE GOURDHEADS IN 1 HE CYPRESS SWAMP OF MISSOURI. 



Uy Uii.i WiDMANN, Old Orchard, Mo 



If you draw a line iroiii Cape Girardeau, on 

 the Mississippi Eiver. soutlnvard to I'oplar 

 Bhift". on the Black Kiver, you have the north- 

 ern boundary of a region entirely ditTerent 

 from the rest of the State of Missoui-i. It is 

 generally known as the Swamp Counties. 

 Those who have land for sale or rent in the 

 region prefer the more invitingf appellation, 

 Alhivial Connties, while the natives often refer 

 to it as the Ciumboot Counties, beeanse gnni, 

 i. e. rubber boots are worn by them for at least 

 six months of the year. 



Selionls and book stores are not thick in the 

 (iumbnot Counties, and it is. therefore, not to 

 be wondered at that in naming objects of nat- 

 ural history they show a peculiar talent for 

 the application of misnomers. 



That they call every water-snake a moc- 

 casin, and the tulip tree a poplar, is ])ardon- 

 able, but the confusion among bird names is 

 too perplexing. 



When they sjjeak of a Water Turkey you 

 may be sure the}' mean a Cormorant, and when 

 you show them what others call a Water Tur- 

 key, an Anhinga, they are apt to call it a Loon. 

 When they tell you that they have shot a 



Water Hen you do not know whether it was a 

 King Kail, a Least Bittern, a Ciallinule, a Coot 

 or a Grebe. Bitterns and Nig-ht Herons are 

 Big' Water Hens. Of course, all are eaten, as 

 well as all kinds of fish. Herons are Cranes. 

 The American Egret is the White Crane, but 

 when they are confronted with a real White 

 Crane, Grus americana, with his red caji and 

 mustache, they are at a loss what name to give. 

 White or Whooping Cranes are not often seen 

 in that heavily wooded region, btit thirty years 

 ago Dr. Cook, of Cottonplant, winged one not 

 far from his house on the so-called Grand 

 Prairie of Dunklin county, and when I last vis- 

 ited his place, two years ago, the Crane was 

 still alive. He has the freedom of the barn- 

 yard and lives and feeds with the fowls, mules 

 and cattle. All the animals are afraid of him 

 and go out of his way; if they do not, he begins 

 to dance and makes stich queer antics that 

 they are glad to get out of his reach. Well, 

 what do j'ou think I heard them call this bird? 

 A Stork. Some names are really funny. The 

 Pileated Woodpecker, a common bird in those 

 primeval forests, is the Good God. and the 

 other Woodpeckers are Peckerwoods. 



