^THB % OOLOGIST,^ 



Vol VI £1. 



ALBION, N. Y., JULY, 189 L 



No. 7 



Some Florida Notes. 



Where is there a collector in the 

 United States who has not a strong de- 

 sire to visit Florida and add rare l)irds 

 and eggs to his coUectionV For over a 

 quarter of a century the writer has 

 longed for a chance to go there and 

 spend a few of the printer and spring 

 months, and during the past season I 

 was gratified in my great desire. It 

 occured to me that some of the readers 

 of the OOLOGIST would like to hear 

 something of tliat land and of its crea- 

 tures, and though I cannot occupy suffi- 

 cient space in the valuable columns to 

 give much of an idea of the country, i 

 fan still offer a few suggestions and 

 draw a few comparisons, which to the 

 wise will certainlj' be M'orth consider- 

 ing, and T may add a little advice to 

 those who contemplate a trip thci-c. 



Bald Eagles breed in abundance in 

 Florida, but a number of full-sized 

 young, which T saw in late February, 

 led me to think that the eggs were laid 

 In December, accoriling to general re- 

 port. Brown Pelicans and several 

 species of Herons breed in immense 

 colonies and the eggs raaj' be gathered 

 till one is tired, however, the majority 

 T)f species of birds use the same precau- 

 tions to hide their nests that Ihey do at 

 the north, and I often tliought were 

 even more careful to conceal them. 

 Kven with one's best endeavois, and 

 one can collect every day from Febru- 

 nry first till June, not nearly as large or 

 varied series of bird's eggs can be taken 

 as at the north in the same time. 



To 1)0 sure I am now past the impul- 

 sive age of youth, still I have the sam«' 

 boyish sjjirit that pressed me a score of 

 Jl^ears ago. A new bird gives me as 

 much pleasure now as then, and mj' in- 

 terest does not appear lessened. And 



for these reasons I was all the more dis- 

 ai)pointed,when only 67 specie.s of birds 

 were recorded on my note l»ook in over 

 three month's time, and of these birds 

 02 were known to me in my native 

 state of Michigan. 



It is needless to say that very little 

 escaped my eye in any quarter I visited 

 and I traveled over 1,000 miles in the 

 state, and from the northern boundary 

 to within three degrees of the ti'opics 

 on the south, l)oth on the coast and in 

 the . interior. When it is a common 

 thing for me to note over seventy spec- 

 ies of birds on a spring day in Michigaa 

 and I have once recoriled 8S birds, the 

 liU-gest numljcr recorded one day,* it is 

 no wonder that disapi)ointment should 

 result in this poor showing. 



Now it is not my intention to belittle 

 Florida in the eyes of Collectors or 

 other tourists, on the contrai'y it is a 

 wonderful state in many respects, and 

 as a winter resort cannot be beaten. 

 All tliat I am anxious to impress upon 

 my readoi's, many of whom have heai'd 

 much of the south and are very desir- 

 (Uis of visiting Florida, is that it is not 

 the wonderful paradise of Collectors 

 that it is claimed, and allow me to sug- 

 gest to tile hundreds of oologists 

 throughout tin; north, that there is just 

 as much glory in working in youi* local 

 l)aiints as in trying to cover ground far 

 from home. 



The average lengtli of time wliich an 

 egg collector is engaged in the work is 

 four or ti\ r y(!ars, to be suit, a few last 

 longer and a very few stick to it for a 

 jx'riod when they may really, fairly be 

 called oologists, l)nt these scientific col- 

 lectors are nnf*<rtunatly quite scarce, 

 the common ephemeral egg crank, who 



♦One day In M.ay 1879 we noted HS spt-cles be- 

 tween the" hours of -1 a. m. and 7 p. ni. In Ottawa 

 County, Mich. 



