THE AUK: 



A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF 

 ORNITHOLOGY. 



Vol. xxx. October, 1913. No. 4 



A BIOLOGICAL RECONNAISSANCE OF OKEFINOKEE 

 SWAMP: THE BIRDS. 



Plates XIV-XX. 



BY ALBERT II. WRIGHT AND FRANCIS HARPER. 



Tin. famous Okefinokee, 'the greatest natural wonder' of Geor- 

 gia, ;hk1 'one of the least known areas of its size in the eastern 

 United States,' covers parts of Charlton, Ware, Clinch, and Pierce 

 Counties, and extends a little beyond the Florida line. It is about 

 39 miles in greatest length by 26 miles in greatest width, and 

 occupies <»in<- 660 square miles. Among the fresh-water swamps 

 easl ■>!' the Mississippi, it is exceeded in size only by the Everglades; 

 and in the richness of its historical and literary associations, in its 

 diversified topography, in the marvelous beauty and charm of its 

 interior, and in its extraordinary interest as a fauna! and floral 

 area, Okefinokee Swamp is unique. 



History. 



A volume might, be written concerning the history of the Oke- 

 finokee, of which we shall give here only the briefest abstract. 

 Prom very early times this swamp has been the subject of strange 

 I. ■■_■. nds and fanciful speculation. As long ago as 1682 it appeared 

 on a map ' as a 'Lacus Mag[nus]' at the source of the St. .Mary's 

 River.(Riode May), and in 1 770 it was represented 2 as the 'Great 



' Winsor, J. Narr. & Crit. BOst. America. Vol. IV, 1884, p. 227. 

 2 The American Military Atlas, 1770, Map 5. 

 477 



