Editorials 



103 



ilirtJ Eore 



A Bi-monthly Magazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THR AUDUBON SOCIETIES 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 

 Published by THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 



Vol. VI 



Published June 1. 1904 



No. 3 



SUBSCRIPTION RATES 



Price in the United States, Canada and Mexico 

 twenty cents a number, one dollar a year, post- 

 age paid. 



COPYRIGHTED, 1904, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



Bird-Lore's Motto: 

 A Bird in the Bush is IVorth Two in the Hand 



A Letter From Florida 



The editor has just completed a tour of 

 observation through parts of Florida, in the 

 results of which, so far as they affect the 

 future of bird protection in the state, Bird- 

 Lore's readers may be interested. 



The region passed through extends from 

 Kissimmee to Lake Okeechobee and thence 

 to the east coast at Sebastian. The Kis- 

 simmee river trip is made very comfortably 

 by boat, two days being required to reach 

 Bassinger from Kissimmee. The remainder 

 of the trip was made by wagon, camps 

 being made by the way. 



After passing through the lakes and 

 reaching the Kissimmee river, one voyages 

 through a vast marsh. The river is narrow, 

 barely wide enough in places for the pas- 

 sage of the quaint little steamer; birds are 

 abundant, and there is doubtless no journey 

 in Florida, if indeed there is in the United 

 States, where the tourist can see so many 

 kinds of birds to such advantage. 



Seven days were passed encamped near 

 the heavily forested north shore of Okee- 

 chobee, and three days were consumed in 

 driving thence to the east coast. No oppor- 

 tunity was lost to acquire information con- 

 cerning the plume-bearing Herons and 

 Paroquets, which once thronged this region, 

 and it is probable that a fairly correct idea 

 of the status of these birds was obtained. 

 The ' Plume bird,' or Snowy Heron, is prac- 

 tically extinct. Not one was observed or 



reported. The White Egret exists in small 

 numbers ; not more than a dozen birds 

 were seen and only a single rookery was 

 heard of. This was said to have been 

 formed in the upper St. John district, about 

 sixteen miles west of Sebastian. News of 

 its formation was accompanied by the state- 

 ment that it had been "shot out." This, 

 it may be added, in the writer's opinion, is. 

 the certain fate of every rookery of aigrette- 

 bearing Herons, unless an armed warden 

 be detailed to guard it day and night. 



No law will ever prevent robbery, if the 

 temptation to thieve be sufficiently great; 

 and with Herons' plumes worth twice their 

 weight in gold, there are hundreds of ex- 

 plumers waiting to loot any rookery which 

 becomes large enough to make the returns 

 worth the risk of prosecution. 



Paroquets are apparently very rare, 

 though it will probably be years before the 

 species becomes extinct. Only twelve indi- 

 viduals were observed, and diligent inquiry 

 showed that the species has greatly de- 

 creased in the past ten years, — though no 

 cause for this diminution is evident. 



Reaching Indian river at Sebastian, Peli- 

 can island was visited and found to have 

 been wholly deserted by the birds, not a 

 Pelican old or young being seen. Six him- 

 dred and fifty nests were found on two 

 small neighboring islands. These were alF 

 occupied in January, when Warden Kroegel 

 reports that a heavy norther raised the water 

 and flooded all the ground nests, while 

 many of the young birds which escaped 

 drowning were starved, the parents being 

 evidently unable to provide for them. The 

 old birds are now- scattered along the coast, 

 and it is not probable that any further at- 

 tempt will be made to nest this year. 



Subsequently the site of a Wood Ibis 

 rookery at the head of the Sebastian river 

 was visited. Four years ago, the writer 

 found it occupied by several hundred pairs of 

 birds, and nesting with them were White 

 Herons and Water Turkeys. Today the 

 great cypresses do not support one occupied 

 nest, and we now turn toward the Keys, in 

 the hope of finding some isolated place 

 where primaeval conditions still exist. — 

 Miami, Florida, May 2, 1904. 



