PREFACE. 



"Go South and rest for a month or two." Thus 

 my physician spoke in the late winter of 1898-'99, 

 when I was suffering from a severe attack of nerv- 

 ous prostration. Southward I went, but my rest was 

 mainly taken in the great hospital of Nature the 

 woods and fields of the region where I sojourned. 

 There I jotted down facts and fancies concerning 

 the animals and plants about me. There, at times, 

 I indulged in reveries on other subjects, which, too, 

 were scribbled in my daily note book. These I have 

 incorporated, for the most part just as they were then 

 written, in this little volume. 



With my own thoughts I have combined many 

 statements from others regarding the objects which 

 I observed. These are mainly from the works of 

 Bartram, Michaux, Say and other naturalists and 

 travelers of nearly a century ago. Their books are 

 becoming scarce, but the objects of which they wrote 

 still abound and can be seen or heard by almost any 

 visitor to the sunny southland who has an open eye 

 and an ear atune with nature. 



The book will, I trust, add something to what is 

 known of the geographical distribution of many of 



(6) 



