PARADISE KEY SAFFORD. 419 



some interesting observations on the life history of the species, 

 from their earliest stages to maturity. He was bitten on the finger 

 by a specimen 12 clays old while trying to feed it. He stopped cir- 

 culation immediately by the use of an improvised tourniquet, and 

 though experiencing certain odd sensations of chilliness, escaped se- 

 rious injury. Unlike the solicitous mudfishes and basses of the 

 neighboring Everglades, who protect their young for some time after 

 they are hatched, rattlesnakes let their little ones shift for themselves 

 as soon as they come into the world. Dr. Byrd could discover no 

 evidence of parental affection among them ; yet in admiration of their 

 innate dignity, courage, and their disdain to strike without warning, 

 he composed an ode in their honor, which ends with the following 

 stanzas : 



Yet all thy virtues wrest from man no lays, 

 Who sings of war and love, of bird and bee, 

 And e'en of rusty toad, but not of thee. 



To thee he yields but hate or fear, not praise. 



Indifferent thou to hatred, fenr, or wrong, 

 Content in jungle drear to seek thy food 

 And nialie thy home and launch tliy royal brood 



In solitude, — I grudge thee not a song. 



BIRDS. 



The bird fauna of southern Florida is especially rich, not only on 

 account of the mild climate, favorable to many subtropical species, but 

 also because Florida is a highway for migratory species which spend 

 their winters in the West Indies. Mrs. Kirk Munroe, president of 

 the Cocoanut Grove Audubon Society, and Mrs. Hiram Byrd, who 

 resides at Princeton, not far from Paradise Ke}^, have interested 

 themselves in observing the birds of this vicinity and making a census 

 of its bird fauna. It is impossible within the scope of this paper to 

 give a detailed account of the birds, but the reader's attention is 

 called to some of the most interesting.^ Since the writer's visit sys- 

 tematic- studies of the birds and mammals of the park have been made 

 by Mr. A. H. Howell, of the United States Biological Survey, who 

 visited the region twice during the year 1918. The results of his 

 investigations will be published later by the Survey. 



In southern Florida many well-known birds, as well as mammals, 

 are represented by varieties or subspecies quite distinct from the 

 typical forms occurring farther north. In some cases the differences 

 are in the relative proportions of certain parts; in others it may be 

 in the coloration of one or both of the sexes. Thus we have a Florida 



^ Illustrations, descriptions, and scientiflo names of many of the birds here considered 

 will lie found in the admirable little pocket bird guides of Chester A. Keed, published by 

 Doubleday, Page & Co. 



