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JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



and have as comfortable a camping 

 place as we found anywhere in the 

 State. It was but a minute's work to 

 gather enough palmetto "bones" for 

 a good fire and soon a kettle of hasty 

 pudding was bubbling and steaming 

 in a most cheerful manner. After 

 putting the bulk of it where it would 

 do us the greatest good we rolled our- 

 selves in our blankets, and without 

 other covering than the sky, slept till 

 broad daylight. 



Our good fortune, we found, had 

 thrown us upon one of those shell 

 mounds, the origin of which is as 

 much enveloped in mystery as the 

 famous burial mounds, which too 

 abound in Florida. It was perhaps as 

 I remember it, ten rods in diameter, 

 nearly circular, and in the center rose 

 to a height of several feet above the 

 surrounding "prairie," it was covered 

 with a generous growth of palmettos, 

 persimmons, hackberry and svv^eet- 

 bay. The skull of a deer bore testi- 

 mony that others had been there be- 

 fore us. We bade adieu to "Camp 

 Providence," as we had named the 

 mound (though we afterwards learned 

 it was locally known as Orange 

 Mound) at about 9 a. m. having now 

 about forty-five miles lying between 

 us and Salt Lake, which we doubted 

 not, constituted another "sausage" in 

 the string. We were not dead sure of 

 being in the true channel of the river 

 once that day, we would no sooner 

 think we had found it than a barrier 

 of stout cane brake would present 

 itself a seemingly impregnable wall 

 before us; through this we would 

 force our boat with the greatest diffi- 

 culty, sometimes more than ten rods 

 before we again found clear water. 

 We dined in our boat that day for 

 want of terra firma. 



A little after noon we discerned a 

 pillar of black smoke in the southeast. 

 At first we thought it might come 

 from the smoke stack of a steamer in 

 which case we would eventually be 

 able to locate the channel by it, but 

 as it proved to be stationary we took 

 it as a point to steer for. A little 

 later we struck a creek, if it could be 

 so termed, which seemed to lead us 

 in that direction without obstruction. 

 We could now see that the smoke 

 issued from the main land in the 

 vicinity of several "hamaks." This 

 was encouraging even if we were 

 running away from Salt Lake, ag we 



more than half believed we were 

 As we worked our way up against the 

 current we surprised a pair of black 

 headed vultures, the only ones we 

 saw in the State, making a disgusting 

 meal off the bloated and odorous car- 

 cass of a deceased 'gator. They were 

 evidently too full for utterance and 

 too full for flying, for they sat there 

 nodding their sooty heads and blink- 

 ing their small eyes sleepily as we 

 rowed past them. 



Voices soon reached us from the 

 hamak whence the smoke arose. As 

 we drew near a log hut presented its- 

 self in the midst of what looked like a 

 field of gigantic corn. A mule in the 

 foreground, attached to a sweep such 

 as we have seen in old time cider 

 mills, was making its endless round 

 and round, belabored and shouted at 

 by a boy from his perch on the end of 

 the sweep, where he sat sucking a 

 stalk of sugar cane when not using it 

 for a whip. Over the fire, where two 

 or three men were bus}', were large 

 caldrons from which a dense steam 

 arose and we knew instinctively that 

 we had struck a cane patch where the 

 process of syrup making was in full 

 blast. All work was suspended so 

 that the men might gaze at us as we 

 rowed down bj^ them, for we had no 

 intention of advertising ourselves 

 "lost, strayed or stolen" but decided 

 to camp for the night in a hamak be- 

 yond. Certain kinds of bird life 

 abounded, herons of several species 

 were flying over in flocks, pairs and 

 singles. In a mammoth live oak near 

 the cane camp hundreds of fish crows 

 were making the air clamorous with 

 their cries. On a tussock of grass a 

 little farther along we saw a courlan, 

 otherwise known as a "crying bird" 

 and "limpkin" jerking its head up 

 and down in the most solemn and at 

 the same time laughable manner im- 

 aginable. These birds present the 

 least fear of man of any species I ever 

 met with. v\ hen startled they fly 

 but a short distance with their long 

 legs dangling and neck outstretched 

 presenting a ludicrous appearance. 

 They are about two-thirds the size of 

 the great blue heron, of a faded 

 chocolate brown color, streaked with 

 white with a long, slim bill with a 

 drooping curve after the manner of 

 the ibis. A bird capable of making 

 more noise never lived. We did not 

 pitch our tent that night but again 



