THE OOLOGIST. 



71 



asleep half au hour, when some one 

 knocked on the door and said "four 

 o'clock, breakfast almost ready." I 

 jumped up, and donned m3^ flannel suit 

 and taking my long rul)l)er boots in my 

 hand went down to the dining room. 



After eating our breakfast we drove 

 down to the blinds, which were on the 

 Gunpowder side about half a mile be- 

 low the house. 



In the morning we occupied two box- 

 es, two men in each box. We remained 

 in them until 12 o'clock, only killing 20 

 ducks, all of which were Redheads. 

 We saw one Hock of Geese but thej'^ 

 passed up the river just out of range. 

 Bj'-the-wa}', did you ever notice how 

 accuratelj' a bird can guage the range 

 of a gim? 



We found it very cold about this time 

 and the ducks having ceased flying, at 

 12:30 Ave went np to the house foi- din- 

 ner. 



Whilst we were eating, one of the 

 men came up and said the ice had brok- 

 en and was passing out of Saltpetre 

 River, where we also had some blinds. 

 Telling him to ])ut out some decoys, my 

 uncle and I soon followed him. 



We took our places in the blind about 

 2:30 and 6 o'clock we had 98 Ducks, 97 

 Redheads and one Baldpate. I don't 

 know how many we lost, as the wind 

 and tiile carried some away before the 

 man or dogs had a chance to get at 

 them. 



The cause of such fine shooting was 

 that the ducks having been kept from 

 their feeding ground by ice, crowded 

 in behind it as soon as it broke loose, 

 and as they had to pass our decoys on 

 their waj' up the river; a great many 

 stopped with us. 



1 well remember one Redhead which 

 came straight in over the ileco^'S and 

 blind, close enough to have struck him 

 with a fishing rod. When he saw us 

 below him, he used his wings, feet and 

 tail in his efforts to climi) out of our 

 reach. I think he stopi)ed with us. 



By this time it was too dai'k to shoot, 

 so shouldering our guns we walked up 

 to the house and sent a horsa and cart 

 down for the game, which made a 

 pretty good load. I ate duck for about 

 two weeks after that. 



Last year we had very little duck 

 shooting in the Gunpowder, and still 

 less so far this year. For some reason 

 or other the grass which the ducks feed 

 on, seems to have died out, or been 

 washed out of our i-ivers. 



Wm. H. Fisheu, 

 Baltimore, Md. 



A Trip Through "Wa-hoo-Hammock •" 



It has probably fallen to the lot of 

 few persons interested in Natures pro- 

 ducts to visit the spot in which it was 

 my good luck to spend thi'ee or four 

 days in March 1889. "Wa-hoo Ham- 

 mock" ("Wa-hoo" is very likely an 

 alireviation for War-Whoop and Ham- 

 mock is the name given in the south to 

 any growth of hard wood trees) is the 

 place, and is situated in the interior of 

 Florida. 



For miles we traveled through for- 

 ests of gigantic hickory, oak, and mag- 

 nolia trees, many of them ten to fifteen 

 feet in diameter and one hundred and 

 fifty to two hundred feet high. These, 

 I am aware do not rival the great red- 

 woods, l)ut Ithink,are the the largest to 

 be found anywhere but in the far west. 

 There is almost no underbrush and the 

 great trees grow at distances of twenty 

 to forty feet apart, and the place is al- 

 most as dark as night, as the trees hold 

 their foliage the year around and it is 

 so thick as to shut out the light. Com- 

 l)ining this with the long festoon? of 

 Spanish moss and huge loops and 

 swings of wild grajjc vines recalled to 

 my mind the stories of my child liood of 

 "The (Jiants that l^ived in the Great 

 Forest." 



It is, of course the favorite abode; of 

 owls of all sizes and kinds, and it 



