102 



TIIK OSPREY. 



Hut one of tlie funniest is the Gourdhead. It 

 is not a sobriquet. Ijut the iiniversal and only 

 name of the Wood lliis, Tantalus loculator. 

 whieh is a regular siiinnier visitant of the re- 

 gion, and not only loi-all.\' common but \ery 

 conspicuous — in fact, quite a feature of the 

 landscape from July till September. They 

 come in troops of variable size, and to see such 

 a troop, say eighteen or twenty of these 

 big- birds circle after the fashion of the Turkey 

 \ ulture, with hardly any wing- beats, high up 

 against the bright blue sl<y. for an hoiir at the 

 time, is really a fine sig-ht. Thus sailing, with 

 their long-stretched ieg-s and neck, black v\irrg-- 

 tips and white plumage, they remind one 

 strongly of the European Stork. 



Like the Turkey \'ultures, and often in their 

 company, they do their soaring- mostly in the 

 forenoon. When not thus employed, you will 

 find tlieni sitting- or standing- in most pictur- 

 esque g-roui5S on the dead branches of a tali 

 lone cypress; or, if you push your dug-out 

 into the dense g-rowth, of the flags, you will 

 startle one or the other from their wading 

 exercises in the shallow water, and you will 

 hear his angry croak. 



At the time of their visit the stage of the 

 water in the sloughs and rivers is at its lowest, 

 and plant growth has become so thick that 

 only a narrow passage in the main channel is 

 left open, hardly wide enough for a dug-out; 

 all the rest of the wide ex^ianse of water is en- 

 tirely overgrown with a variety of aquatic 

 plants. Thick masses of "moss" (Myriophyl- 

 lum. Ceratophyllum. C'abomba, Utricularia and 

 others) impede the current, and various kinds 

 of "duck meat" (Lemna. Spirodela. Wolflia) 

 cover large ai-eas of the surface and attach 

 themselves to the moss below. The current it- 

 self is hemmed in by a band of smartweeds. 

 Polygonum, mainly densifloruni, which, in its 

 turn, is bordered by the "flags," the reg:ion 

 next to the cypress, and often set oti' from them 

 by a tangle of climbing- hempweed, here called 

 b'uckvine. ilicania scandens. the only climbing 

 genus of the Compositae. For the botanist 

 these bankless water courses are a rich field 

 for study, as he finds here interesting- repre- 

 sentatives of various floras, and of all sizes 

 from the giant Taxodium down to the smallest 

 of phanerogamic or flowering- plants, the root- 

 less Wolffiella. It is the meeting point of 

 northern offshoots of the iloridian and Texan 

 floras, and the first impression a visitor from 

 the North receives is that of strangeness of 

 nuiny individual plants and the general nov- 

 elty of the scenery. 



One of the most i-ommon plants of the so- 

 called openings, i. e. lakelike widenings of the 

 riverbeds, is the chinkapin, here called touK,'- 

 pin. the American lotus, Nelumbo lutea. It is 

 an old acquaintance of ours, growing- plenti- 

 fully farther north, but in its new surround- 

 ings it gains additional interest by its greater 

 luxuriance, presenting- leaves of over two feet. 

 and sweet-scented flowers of over eight inches 

 in diameter. Such a l)looming Nelumbium-bed. 

 with its rich green, floating- leaves and soft 

 yellow blossoms, is hy itself a beautiful sight, 

 hut it becomes |)erfectly charming- to the lover 

 of nature when animated, as we ofteii find it 



here in Aug-ust, by an interesting- and lovely- 

 bird visitor from the South. 



It is the elegant graceful form of the horno- 

 tiue Little jjlue Heron. Florida caerulea, in 

 [lure white plumage, who invades the swamps 

 of southeastern .Missouri in numerous troops of 

 various sizes. At a uistauce they may easily 

 be mistaken for the Snowy lleron. Garzetta 

 candidissima. being almost of the same size; 

 but, when sufliciently close and in good light, 

 we see the distinguisliing characteristics of the 

 species — legs, feet and lores yellowish-green, 

 and wings tipjied with slate. This latter feat- 

 ure is not easily seen except when the bird 

 opens its wings; it is akso variable in extent 

 and shade; some have it vei'y distinct, in others 

 it is hardlv noticeable except in the best of 

 light. 



Horn and reared in the uninhabited swamps 

 of the South, they are singularly unsuspicious 

 visitors, and I am afraid many fall victims to 

 the ci-uelty of man before they learn to be 

 more cautious, though I do not see how a man 

 can find pleasure in destroying such a lovely, 

 harmless creature. They may catch young fish 

 and minnows at some season, but they do not 

 come to Missouri as professional fishermen. 

 The chief attraction seems to be the bell-frog, 

 Hyla carolinensis. a little fellow, only ly, to 

 2 inches long, which spends much of its time 

 sunning and fly-catching on the lotus. When 

 sitting on these large, floating leaves, which 

 shield them from their enemies below, they 

 seem to have but little harm to fear and. un- 

 suspecting, fall an easy prey to the hungr.v 

 visitor from the South. 



On nimble feet, the slender bird treads gin- 

 gerly from leaf to leaf, but often in his zeal tc: 

 make a cat<'h he steps too far out on the rim. 

 which sinks and leaves him swimming- in the 

 water. With his long- legs he gra))))les with 

 the leaf and struggles hard to get on board 

 again. It is a most amusing- sight to see him 

 sink repeatedly, until the center of the leaf is 

 reached, where the supporting stalk will bear 

 his weight. Wherever the floating leaves do 

 not overlap, the liird is forced to fake short 

 flights, and on alighting, keeps his wings 

 partly unfolded, ready to escape, should no 

 firm stand be secured. 



Thus a small troop of fifteen to twenty birds 

 can do a large tract of lotus in a remarkably 

 short time. Arriving- at the end. all take wing 

 at once and strike out for another patch. When 

 their hunger is appeased, an insular clump of 

 trees invites them to a prolonged and undis- 

 turbed rest. Sometimes they do ii little circling 

 and soaring with the Gourdheads. but when 

 going any distance they arrange themselves 

 into a migratory wedge and proceed in a 

 straight course at no great height, sometimes 

 barely skipping the highest tree-tops. Old 

 birds" are rare, keep separate, and are quite 

 shy. 



When the noon sun spends its force upon 

 the marsh, all nature seems to rest and silence 

 reigns supreme. The song birds, which, even 

 iji .\ug-ust. are quite noisy for a few hours in 

 the early morning, are neither heard nor seen: 

 they have disajipeared as if by magic. Once 

 in a while a Florida Cormorant will rise and 



