THE OOLOGIST 



291 



meat. Suitable camping places are 

 hard to find in this country and many 

 nights had to bunk down in the bot- 

 tom of my canoe on my blankets. 

 Here under the net 1 passed the long 

 hours of the night and they were long, 

 believe me. Would have to eat before 

 dark on account of "Skeets" and I 

 would pass the time before becoming 

 sleepy playing my harmonica and lis- 

 tening to the eternal song of the 

 "Skeet" and the never ending "glug- 

 glug-glug" (frog talk for O-you Kid) 

 "very often changed to a cry of distress 

 fcnd help as some wily old Moccasin 

 would make a meal off him. Then for 

 a few seconds there would be quiet, 

 then the frog chorus would resume. 

 About 8:30 one night 1 arrived at a 

 small camping place on a canal bank 

 on edge of Lake, I should of stopped 

 earlier but wanted to make a camp 

 where I could do a little cooking as 

 grub out of cans, and crackers were 

 beginning to become too much like 

 "monkey food." I ca^Tied no tent as 

 was -traveling light, so put down my 

 poncho on ground, spread blankets on 

 it and hung net over them, then an- 

 other poncho over net to keep off the 

 heavy dews and fogs, getting inside 

 and tucking net under blanket I was 

 ready to sleep. This was the regular 

 way I camped on this trip. Just as 

 day was beginning to show signs of 

 breaking I was awakened by a violent 

 niovement of the net, thinking it was 

 only a raccoon, of which I usually had 

 I)Ienty as nightly visitors, 1 called out 

 and rolled over. The net kept moving 

 so 1 knew it was no coon and looking 

 Fharply I saw a hugh Moccassin was 

 outside nosing the net and evidently 

 trying to get inside. I slipped out the 

 f.pposite side and soon put an end to 

 Iiis fun with a stick and killed two 

 others equally as large that had just 

 crawled out of the saw grass. There 

 was a well worn path around the net 



showing the Moccasin had trailed 

 around the net a long time. 



When broad daylight had again wak- 

 ened me, 1 came out and saw four 

 more large Moccasins on the camping 

 ground, making seven in all killed 

 there. I camped one night with a fish- 

 erman and as the gators had been mo- 

 lesting his nets and lines, he suggest- 

 ed a gator hunt for the night. I put 

 a Bulls Eye Lamp on my head and 

 seated in bow of his boat he noiseless- 

 ly paddled me around the winding 

 creek in the Everglades. It was weird 

 and then some, the rays of the lamp 

 catching the eyes of Coon and a few 

 Wild Cats, besides the eyes of gators, 

 often having to break away through 

 the ever hanging moss, and hearing 

 large snakes slipping off logs and once 

 an ottor slid into the dark water of 

 the creek. The absolute quiet neces- 

 sary to hunt the gators made the dark- 

 ness more intense. Once we were 

 nearly startled out of our senses by a 

 Barred Owl right over our heads let- 

 ting loose his weird "Whoo-Whoo- 

 Whoo-Whoo-ah". After several hours 

 we succeeded in killing five gators. 



Ospreys were very abundant around 

 the Lake and Eagles very scarce, even 

 in Eagle Bay saw not a single one. 

 Hence its name? Had the pleasure of 

 seeing the beautiful Black Necked 

 Stilt, saw seven in one bunch mating 

 and was sorry was too early for nests, 

 same way with Everglade Kites, found 

 them beginning to build in the saw 

 grass. Found one rookery of over 400 

 pairs of Florida Corwarants with new- 

 ly hatched young late in March, while 

 10 miles further along there were two 

 small rookeries that had hatched off 

 in December. One cypress had 32 

 nests in, another 55 and the fishermen 

 had named the nearest camp "Nigger 

 Duck". This is the local name here 

 lor the Camorants and is a fitting one 

 as they are hatched out black and 



