100 



THE OOLOGlST. 



not to my knowledge nest anywhere 

 within the limits of our County. 



A nest found by a friend of mine in 

 the latter part of March was placed oa 

 the horizontal limb of a cypress tree iu 

 a swamp in Levey County, about seven- 

 teen miles south-west of Archer. The 

 nest was twenty feet from the ground 

 and contained two young birds. He re- 

 ported finding no other nests though a 

 number of birds were seen in the im- 

 mediate vicinity of the nest. 



I was told by a "plume hunter" that 

 in a cypress swamp about twenty miles 

 from New Troy he had found hundreds 

 x)f Ibis breeding in company with a col- 

 ony of Egrets which he and some 

 "brothers-in-murder" had almost anni- 

 hilated for their pinnies. 



The Wood Ibis is known in many 

 plaees of Florida by the name of "Iron- 

 heads" and "Gannets." 



The White Ibis when appearing in 

 the summer for the first time is not that 

 beautiful white bird with bronze tip- 

 ped wings which we are so accustomed 

 to see. In fact the young birds present 

 quite a different appearance than the 

 old birds. Instead of being white they 

 are a dull brown color above, with a 

 conspicuous white rump and white 

 under parts, bill long and yellowish. 



Sometimes the young will be found in 

 company with the old birds but oftener 

 perhaps they may be seen in small 

 flocks by themselves. I have never 

 found a nest of the White Ibis but they 

 undoubtedly breed in immense numbers 

 in the dark recesses of some of our cy- 

 press swamps. It is a pleasure to 

 watch each summer for the appearance 

 of the Ibis on Led worth Lake, and not 

 uncommon is it for them to bring iu 

 their company a Roseate Spoonbill. 

 By watching a flock in this way it was 

 that I was enabled to obtain my first 

 specimen of this rare and beautitul 

 bird. 



T. G. Pearson. 

 Archer, Fla. 



Notes on the Whip-poor-will- 



This very interesting bird is quite 

 common iu this locality. From the first 

 of May to the middle of June the even- 

 ing air resounds with the notes of this 

 bird; after this they are less frequently 

 heard. During this time they come in- 

 to our yards and they will even alight 

 on the roof of the house, utter a few 

 notfs and fly quickly and noiselessly 

 away. 



They seem to frequent river valleys 

 rather than districts of high altitude. 

 In a mountain town adjoining its notes 

 are hardly if ever heard. A man that 

 was a resident of that town for sixty 

 years never heard the Whip-poor-will 

 but once while he lived there. 



One evening I thought I would count 

 the number of times it uttered its call, 

 whip-poor-will, without stopping. I 

 accordingly crept up to a bird and pre- 

 pared to listen. I was surprised at the 

 result. It would frequently utter it 

 eight} 7 or a hundred times and once I 

 counted nearly two hundred times the 

 bird uttered it without a break. The 

 bird kept flying from place to place but 

 it did not get out of my sight. 



On the 24th'day of May, 1891, while 

 walking in a small grove of pine trees 

 along the bank of a river, a Whip-poor- 

 will started from under my feet, flew a 

 short distance, alighted on a limb and 

 looked at me. I thought probably there 

 was a nest near by, and began to hunt 

 for it in earnest. There was a small 

 pile of brush at my feet, and I thought 

 it wouldbe as likely to be there as any- 

 where. 



I walked around it, stepping careful- 

 ly so to be sure not to break the eggs. 



I did not find them there, and made 

 my circle larger, and so on until I cam e 

 to the conclusion that there were no 

 eggs there and started off. I had tak- 

 en but a few steps when I happened to 

 look down and there I saw an egg ly- 

 ing in front of me. Now the question 



