150 



THE OOLOGIST. 



ings and one rarely hears of accidents. f 

 Soon we spied a nest of the kind 

 which we were in quest, and by urging, 

 our major domo, George Washington 

 Monroe, was prevailed upon to climb 

 the tree. The nest contained four eggs 

 which were fresh. It was all of ten 

 feet up in the mangrove and on a limb 

 hanging over the water. The feat of 

 climbing was accomplished only by the 

 aid of much boosting and ample praise 

 bestowed on George Washington Mon- 

 roe and when he returned to the boat 

 with the set— an ovation was held. We 

 jollied up the poor colored boy until he 

 puffed with pride, and began to bluster 

 that he could "climb any tree in Flori- 

 da." But the very next nest, twelve 

 feet from the surface, was a poser for 

 George Washington and we had to 

 give up in despair. He tried as hard as 

 it was possible for an imp of darkness 

 to try, but at last slid down, without 

 even a grin on his face. We offered 

 him a jack knife, a silver quarter, a 

 rabbits foot*;and We told him we would 

 Hoo-doo him for all summer unless he 

 took the eggs. His reply was: "No 

 use talkin Boss— dshyar n'ggah kyant 

 clim dat ar tree! Too high Boss! No 

 use talkin — nohow! I aint agwine to 

 run no chances to git my neck broke, 

 an lev my pore ole mammy wid no 

 George Washington to take car ob her." 

 Here was a pretty fix. I'm lame and 

 and could not climb a peach tree. One 

 man weighing over two hundred and 

 fifty was out of the question. Another 



t One is quite apt to to think, from stories 

 that are heard, that poisonons snakes are to be 

 found everywhere in Florida, and that alliga- 

 tors, scorpions, huge sharks and wild Semin- 

 oles are to be seen on everyhand. The fact is, 

 most of the sharks are under five feet in length, 

 alligators are mostly found stuffed in curiosity 

 stores , while the snakes, scorpions and Indians 

 know enough to keep hidden generally. 



* The negroes of the South are very super- 

 stitious. One of their chief mascots to bring 

 good luck and avert disaster is the foot of a 

 rabbit shot by the light of a new moon. 



one afraid of snakes, and this colored } 

 boy without enough nerve to climb up 

 a small tree, you might say, with spec- 

 ial steps all the way up. 



So of course we left that nest. The 

 next two nests contained no eggs and 

 the following three were only from two 

 to seven feet up. They contained two, 

 three and four eggs respectively. The 

 nests are quite bulky structures and 

 somewhat like the smaller Heron's plat- 

 form nests. The eggs can generally be 

 seen in or on the nest when one's eyes 

 are still below a level with the margin. 

 The color was a bluish white and the 

 shell is more or less covered with 

 chalky deposit. One egg in a set that 

 we took was entirely different from the 

 rest, being of a light chocolate color. 



The Water Turkey is generally a very 

 sly bird and it is only by chance that a 

 collector gets a good view of one close 

 at hand. The birds usually leave the 

 nest before ihe collector is anywhere 

 near it, and this is done so quickly that 

 the act is rarely noticed. However if 

 one is able to steal up unobserved, the 

 rattled condition of the setter may, be 

 noted with amusement. The bird in its 

 hurry to escape, not rarely clashes 

 against limbs, and snags, and seems to 

 strike everything near it. I do not 

 think that I have ever seen as rattled a 

 bird as one that I beheld on Indian 

 River. Our steamer was going through 

 the narrows, when a Snake-bird or An- 

 hinga came towards us. Seeing our 

 boat it settled in the water, making no 

 attempt to fly back as it had come. 

 It dove and swam quite a distance, and 

 came up with its head and neck expos 

 ed alone, a common and singular prac- 

 tice of the species. Before it could re- 

 cover itself, the steamer passed over it. 

 In due time, it was seen to rise, after 

 the steamer had passed, and fly away, 

 perhaps to gossip about its latest exper- 

 ience. 



t If one spoke to Geo. W. M. about colored 

 people, he'd reply: "Yo's mistooken Boss. 

 Dey 'aint culled. Dey's born'd dat way Boss." 



