°i9i3 I Wright and Harper, Th Birds of Okefinokee Swamp. 187 



in size from a clump of a few trees to areas of a mile or more in 

 extent, the latter differing little, if a1 all, from the cypress ' bays.' 

 The smaller 'heads' are generally covered with buttonbushes 

 (jCepkalanthus occidentalis), 'hardwood' (Cyrilla racemiflora), 

 white alders (Clethra alnifolia), 'hurrah bushes,' and 'bamboo 

 vines'; and enclosed within this shrubby tangle are white ba; 

 Bweel baj i, and ;i few taller cypresses. Some islets of this sort 

 contain ground diy enough to furnish camping site i. The Yellow- 

 billed < luckoo, Kingbird, Florida < rrackle, Yellow-throated Warbler, 

 Florida Yellow-throat, and Carolina Wren are common here. We 

 also found the Water-Turkey, Ward's Heron, and the Fish Hawk 

 in iting in these ' heads.' 



Prairies. ( Plate XVI.) The ' prairies' of the < )kefinokee are by 

 no means prairies in the ordinary sense of the term. One prairie 

 may differ considerably from another, but all are essentially flooded 

 marshes, or shallow hikes filled to a great extent with aquatic 

 vegetation. In wel seasons one may pole his boal almost al will 



OVer these expanses; during (\v\ summers, however, the miiek is 



exposed, and little water is left excepl in the deeper parts, sued as 

 the "gator holes.' On Floyd's Island Prairie the water is so 

 shallow, even during the wettest seasons, and the sphagnum and 

 ot her aquatic plants grow so profusely, that na \ igation is extremely 

 difficult, if not impossible, over :i large portion of this area. The 

 plants of the prairies have their roots in the underlying muck, which 

 in turn rests upon ;i sandy bottom. The vegetation is arranged in 



several distinct, /one-. In the deeper and more open parts, the 



species of greatesl abundance and most widespread distribution is 

 the white water-lily (Castalia odorata). Interspersed with it are 

 arrow-head (Sagittaria), 'wampee' (Pontederia cordata), 'bull- 

 tongue' (Orontium aquaticum), arrow arum (Peltandra), and other 

 characteristic aquatic herbs. Here and there the water-lilies are 

 replaced by purple bladderworts (Utricularia purpurea), upon the 

 seeds of which raccoons and winter Ducks feed regularly. In the 



shallower parts, thick beds of 'maiden cane' grow. This zone is 



especially noticeable around the r<\<^v<, of some of the cypress 



'head ,' the 1 1 in I >s and tree, of which rise in .succession behind it. 



Saw-gra is, also, grows with the 'maiden cane' iii some small open 

 glades (which may be likened to prairies) within the cypress 'bay' 



north of Billy's Lake. 



