Burns, on Walter J. Hoxie. G9 



rounds of ammunition, of which he scarcely wasted a shot ; 

 and hved on "shot meat" to recuperate his finances. Yellow 

 fever breaking out, Jacksonville and counties in Florida 

 quarantined against one another ; so it was some time before 

 he could make his way into the interior and take the desired 

 specimens of the Florida Burrowing Owl and Little Striped 

 Skunk (his description of the breeding habits of the former is 

 quoted by Bendire in his Life Histories) , and we hear of him 

 wading the swamps north of Okeechobee bare-legged, in com- 

 pany with a Seminole, and shooting the Carolina Paroquet ; it 

 was here, too, he received the thirty days' notice from the De- 

 partment, as he had not averaged the required twenty speci- 

 mens a day. Since that time he has visited Florida twice and 

 had "no end of a good time," but added nothing to the litera- 

 ture of the country. During our latest financial depression, 

 he writes in '95 : "Never saw such hard times. I am tired 

 of looking for the 'silver lining to the cloud.' Nickels or even 

 coppers would be awfully dazzling to my sight." 1901 finds 

 him leading the lonely and rather hard life of a shipkeeper on 

 board the Accomac, Port Royal naval station ; and it was here 

 while lying on his back in a bunk during his "four hours ofif," 

 the touching little narrative of the "Rough-wings of the 

 Tucules" w,as written' — the .first article to appear in the 

 Wilson Bulletin after the present writer took it up for the 

 year 1901 — that volume so prolific in typographical errors, 

 vexatious delays and unfruitful toil on the part of the editor 

 and publisher. Walter Hoxie was an honest observer. He 

 could write and he could shoot; he appears to have valued in- 

 formation above specimens. Perhaps he possessed too much 

 sientiiment in his make-up to be a successful collector. Who 

 knows ? 



