THE OOLOGIST 



47 



Upon arriving at the edge of the 

 woods, we dismounted and walked 

 along the white, rock road which ex- 

 tends through to Cocoanut Grove, 

 five miles to the south. The place 

 seemed alive with birds in the trees 

 and over head. Five turkey buzzards 

 were sailing over head and five pine 

 woods sparrows were chattering in 

 the bushes on the edge of the woods. 

 On the way from home we had seen 

 seven buzzards, one sparrow hawk, 

 six gulls, ring billed (?), two pine 

 warblers, and one loggerhead shrike. 

 As we proceeded the familiar note of 

 the black-throated blue warbler was 

 heard and five of these little fellows 

 were busily getting breakfast. Two 

 more were seen a few moments later 

 and then not a bird was seen or heard 

 until we arrived at the fringe of low 

 bushes on the south end of the Ham- 

 mock, where the open pine land be- 

 gins. Here we saw a catbird, Carolina 

 wren and two cardinals. 



Near the road was a trail which 

 wound back through the Hammock to 

 a private road, this runs parallel with 

 the country road and is used by the 

 people who have winter homes along 

 the bay front. Wm. Jennings Bryan 

 owns a beautiful place in the center 

 of the thick jungle. To continue my 

 story, we hid our bicycles and started 

 down this trail. I was a few yards 

 ahead and jumped a good three feet 

 off the ground when a covey of at 

 least fifty quail went up right in front 

 of me. The air was full of them for 

 a minute. Also saw a blue jay as we 

 walked along. Crossing the private 

 road we continued to the bay shore 

 and found that our trail led to an In- 

 dian well, called "The Devil's Punch 

 Bowl." The well is cut out of solid 

 rock. A space five feet deep was cut 

 back into a ledge and then the well 

 was cut about six feet deep and two 

 and a half across. The water is fresh 



although the well is not more than 

 twenty feet from the shore of the bay, 

 which is salt water. The underground 

 flow is toward the ocean. 



Coming back -to the road two cat- 

 birds and a Fla-red shouldered hawk 

 were seen. We left the Hammock, and 

 rode along a bit of glade land. On the 

 inland side of the road lay a reef cov- 

 ered with pines and saw palmettoes. 

 Saw a cardinal, kingfisher, sparrow- 

 hawk, loggerhead shrike, red-cockaded 

 woodpecker, blue jay and a great blue 

 heron as we rode along. A red should- 

 ered hawk was screaming back in the 

 open pines A little farther on two 

 ducks, a buzzard, and a man-o-war 

 bird were in the air over the bay. 



Turning inland through the open 

 pine country and citrus groves, we 

 headed toward the glades. Put up an- 

 other covey of twenty quails, saw five 

 sparrowhawks at one time, also more 

 buzzards and shrikes. We rode on 

 till our rock highway turned into a 

 trail which led along a glade contain- 

 ing about fifty acres. This land was 

 covered with tall waving marsh grass 

 and down through the center a few 

 bushes grew, giving the appearance of 

 a creek bed. All this does not have 

 much to do with birds, but it may 

 give some of my northern friends an 

 idea of the country down here. This 

 glade was walled in on all sides by 

 tall yellow pine timber. They have a 

 particularly tough and curly grained 

 variety here which is known as Dade 

 County pine. 



Our trail led us to a rock road and 

 we stopped to eat when we reached it. 

 Saw a ground dove and a couple of 

 hawks were making the woods ring 

 back of us. A shrike sat near and 

 was imitating the hawks. I had never 

 heard one do this before and am wond- 

 ering if it is a common occurrence. A 

 mocking bird was the first bird seen 

 as we started on. Two sparrow hawks 



