1915 J Kennard, On the Trail of the Ivory-bill. 3 



The next morning, February 16th, we went on through the pine 

 woods, about seven miles, to the "Rock Spring Crossing" at the 

 edge of the Big Cypress, where we left our automobile in the woods, 

 beneath an extemporized canvas tent. We bogged down twice, 

 en route, and had to wait, both times, for the oxen to catch up and 

 pull the machine out of the mud, a soft marley clay. 



The country had been very uninteresting, and comparatively 

 birdless, only a few sparrows and a buzzard or two having been 

 seen, and the tracks of a few turkeys. After caching the auto, 

 and eating a hasty lunch, we took to the swamp, the main "strand" 

 of the Big Cypress, and for four miles plodded, and waded, and 

 cleared the trail of prostrate trees and overhanging boughs that 

 threatened the schooner's superstructure. 



On the margin of the swamp and its bordering jungle, we saw a 

 Catbird, a Brown Thrasher, and a few Florida Yellow-throats, 

 but after we got into the swamp itself we saw not a bird until 

 we reached a small cabbage hammock about half a mile from the 

 other side, which was fairly alive with them. Chickadees (I do 

 not know whether they were Carolina or the Florida sub-species), 

 Tufted Titmice, many unidentified warblers, Pileated and Red- 

 bellied Woodpeckers were flying about, while in the waters of the 

 swamp adjoining there waded numbers of Louisiana Herons, 

 Green Herons, Egrets, Wood Ibis, Black-crowned Night Herons, 

 and large herons, either Ward's or Great Blues. 



On coming out of the swamp the trail led across a fine large 

 hammock of open pine woods, interspersed with cabbage palms, 

 live-oaks, and an undergrowth of saw-palmettos, dotted here and 

 there with numerous depressions filed with cypress and jungle. 

 Peter and I went ahead looking for a "burn" on which to camp, 

 near water and pasturage, while Tom took my rifle, and soon 

 brought in two turkeys which he had " roosted " in a cypress, near 

 the edge of the swamp. 



In choosing a camp site in this country one should usually choose 

 a "burn," or place that has recently been burned over, as otherwise 

 one may return to camp, only to find that it has vanished in smoke. 



The natives everywhere in this region; cowboys, alligator hunt- 

 ers, and Indians alike, seem to travel with boxes of matches in their 

 pockets, which they distribute impartially as they ride through 



