Birds of Kirkwood, DeKalb County, Georgia. 51 



tent. The sweet potato makes an "all 'round" crop, the 

 man with only a small garden "patch" managing to pro- 

 duce a few for his own consumption. Peaches, pears, 

 plums, apples, cherries, figs, and grapes do well in any part 

 of the county. Strawberries and raspberries are easily rais- 

 ed, while blackberries grow wild in every old, neglected 

 field. There is also a variety found in the swamps whicii 

 attains to a larger size. 



Gray squirrels, ground squirrels, skunks, opossums, minks, 

 and muskrats are the indigenous wild animals. The opos- 

 sums and skunks are fairly common, the others rare and 

 seldom seen. Bull-frogs are plentiful; some large ones are 

 caught in East Lake, while toads and tree-frogs are common, 

 the latter ofcener heard than seen. The snakes are water- 

 moccasin, black, king, and chicken snakes, and some small- 

 er species, the names of which I do not know. A box ter- 

 rapin is occasionally seen, river tortoise are found in low, 

 marshy places, both on the land and in the water, they 

 sometimes become troublesome by destroying young ducks 

 and goslings which happen to be swimming in the streams. 



There are four species of lizards: one a kind of chameleon, 

 which has a faculty of changing its color, it is sometimes 

 green and sometimes brown; a scaly, rough-looking one, 

 which lurks about old fences and the lower part of the 

 trunks of trees; two others which are strictly terrestrial — 

 one a trim little fellow with brown and yellow stripes upon 

 a blue ground, the other a much larger one with a dark brown 

 body with dirty stripes, the head being a reddish brown. 

 The two last are swift runners, and are difficult to capture. 

 They are both accused of being fond of ripe strawbenies, 

 but the dainage which they do is, no doubt, overbalanced 

 by the amount of insects which they destroy. The water 

 used for domestic purposes is free-stone, and is obtained 

 from wells at an average depth of forty feet. There are no 

 navigable watercourses in the tract, nor in the county. 

 East Lake, which is only an artificial lake or pond, lies 

 about one-half mile outside the eastern limit, and covers 



