THE OOLOGIST. 



99. 



Although these are not all the birds, 

 that visited nie under the trees, they 

 are the ones, with the exception of the 

 Cuckeoos, which shared the little re- 

 treat with me for a month and a half. 



The Scarlet Tauager, the Rose-breast- 

 ed Grosbeak, the Baltimore Oriole, 

 and many of the common birds, as 

 Phoebe, Brown Thrasher, Blue-bird, 

 and Wood Pewee, visited me occasionly 

 but only staid a short time in each case. 



To be sui'e during mj" entire vacation 

 ■which ended on the 15th of August, I 

 saw no species new to me, or even a 

 rare one, yet it was one of the pleasant- 

 est outings I have ever had. 



I saw more of bird life to the square 

 foot than I have ever seen in all my 

 trampings, and this all in a cluster of a 

 dozen trees, situated within thirty feet 

 of one of our principle village streets. 

 Edw.\hd p. Carlton, 



Wauwatosa, Wis. 



The Ibises of Ledworth Lake. 



Lying about fifteen miles south of the 

 growing and prosperous city of Gaines- 

 ville, the county seat of Alachua Co. 

 Florida, is a body of water two miles 

 long and about as wide. 



Like many other Floi-ida lakes this 

 one has neither inlet nor outlet, except 

 in the late summer when, being swollen 

 by the numerous rains of the rainy- 

 season the water of Levey Lake lying 

 one half mile to the north overflows its 

 marshy bank and the water finds its 

 way through a slough into Ledworth 

 Lake. 



The lake is surrounded on three sides 

 by a thick growth of hammock trees, 

 among which are oak, hickory, magno- 

 lia, a few pines, and occa.«ionally a cab- 

 bage palmettn. The woods on the sr)uth 

 side ii()W(!ver are much more open as 

 the pine forest heie comes down almost 

 to the water. On all sides the trees are 

 hung with tassels and loiifj festoons of 

 Spanish moss, which hanging graceful- 



ly from the huge live-oak limlis, gives, 

 to the collector who views them for the 

 lirst time, that sensation of pleasant ex- 

 pectancy which ahvaj's accompanies 

 one upon approaching a "new tield." 



The water of the lake as a rule is 

 shallow and around the borders is a 

 thick growth of bushes and tall grass, 

 while out in the deeper water patches 

 of bonnets and lily pads are everywhere 

 in sight. Ijong stretches of prairie are 

 found in places along the shore. On 

 the .south-west side in a gigantic ])inc is 

 the domicile of a Bald Eagle which for 

 years has there annually hatched its 

 young and fed them with fish captured 

 from a neighboring Osprey or victims 

 from the ever present flocks of Coot or 

 Gallinule. 



Around this lake is the feeding 

 grounds of thousands of hei'ons and 

 other water birds. Here it is that in 

 Jul3' the Wood Ibis after having raised 

 its young in the cypress swamps be- 

 yond the Suwannee, accumulate in vast 

 Hocks to spend the summer. 



Here it is also that the White Ibis, 

 leaving their breeding grounds among 

 the dark cypress trees come to make 

 merry with others of their tribe. While 

 both varieties are usually met with in 

 considi'rable flocks, the Wood Ibis by 

 far outnumber their little cousins. In 

 a single flock may oftime^ be seen as 

 many as two or three hundred. Once 

 in July while camping near L'dworth 

 Lake a flock of Wood Ibis startled from 

 some cause, jjrobably from the flring of 

 a gun, suddenly took wing from a little 

 island perhaps half way across the lake 

 and the sound of their wings borne 

 across the water was lik(! th*^ ruml)Iing 

 of thunder or (he distant roarof cannon. 



There must h;i\ c been at least a thou- 

 sand individuals in this one flock. La- 

 ter in the day as a small detachment of 

 th(^ main liod^' Ih'w over me, I succeed- 

 ed in bringing down one of the noble 

 birds, but it fell in a marshy placid and 

 I was unable to procure it. They d<x 



