THE OOLOGIST 



67 



heavy rifle he would ruin it- — the hird 

 not the rifle — he placed his "44" on 

 the ground and hikes the five miles 

 back to his cabin and secured his shot 

 gun. Returning to the swamp, he 

 secreted himself within shooting dis- 

 tance of where he had seen the Ivory- 

 bill, and within ten minutes along 

 came the male bird, which he snoL. 

 In about an hour along came the 

 female which he also gathered in. 

 That evening I done one of the most 

 foolish things I ever done in my life. 

 Anyone acquainted with the sluggish 

 streams in Florida is aware of the 

 fact that these streams contain 

 numerous turtles, alligators, garfish, 

 etc. The female Ivory-bill although 

 not badly shot, was smeared with 

 blood much of it being dry. Attach- 

 ing a cord to the legs of the bird I 

 fastened it to a stone, and then sunk 

 it in the stream back of the house, 

 intending to leave it there until the 

 next morning. About 2:30 A. M. I 

 awoke with a start and thought of 

 what I had done. With my heart in 

 my throat and trousers to cover my 

 legs, I hastened down to the stream, 

 to find my bird all O. K., and every 

 trace of blood gone. Never again, 

 never again I repeated to myself as 1 

 slowly walked back to the house. The 

 two skins, in as fine a shape and con 

 dition as when I prepared them, are 

 resting in the same cabinet where I 

 placed them thirty years ago. Before 

 preparing a bird skin I always take 

 three measurements that cannot be 

 accurately obtained from a dry skin. 

 Length, from tip of bill to end of long- 

 est tail feather; extent, from tip to 

 tip of outstretched wings, and length 

 of wing from shoulder to tip of long- 

 est primary. My birds measured as 

 follows: Male, length, eighteen and a 

 half inches. Extent, thirty-one and a 

 half inches. Wing, ten and a quarter 

 inches. Female, length, seventeen 



and three quarter inches. Extent, 

 thirty-one inches. Wing, ten inches. 

 I have made seven trips to Gulf Ham- 

 mock, Florida, between the years 1S8G 

 and 1916, and from what I have seen 

 and heard, I doubt if there has been 

 an Ivory-billed Woodpecker shot in 

 that part of Florida in twenty-five 

 years. 



Philip Laurent. 

 Philadelphia, Pa. 



"A NOTE OR SO FROM THE MEXI- 

 CAN BORDER. 

 "Real Texas Birds" 



At present I am situated in one of 

 the largest expanses in the southern 

 United States, that has not, as yet, 

 been "Birded." The Big Bend Dis- 

 trict off south-western Texas is the 

 large area of country, (I refrain from 

 saying land, for it isn't), lying be- 

 tween Del Rio and Fort Hancock, fol- 

 lowing the jagged course of the Rio 

 Grande and northern Chihauhau on 

 the south, and extending to and be- 

 yond the Southern Pacific Railroad on 

 the north. Some times, when blue, I 

 dwell on the saying that the railroad 

 and not the river, is the southern 

 boundry of Texas and the limit of the 

 white man's civilization. The coun- 

 try consists, principally of hills, rang- 

 ing from two hundred to seven thous- 

 and feet, and alkali or salt grass flats, 

 affording a little nourishment to the 

 limited vegetation. However, in the 

 fertile valleys, lying along the Rio 

 Grande, plant and bird life fairly 

 radiates. 



In all the years that I have been in 

 Texas, I have seldom had the pleasure 

 of seeing any of our birds that carry 

 name of Texas. But here, about 500 

 miles from my home, at Ft. Worth, 

 nearly all of the birds that have the 

 privilege, are Texas in all respects. 



It was at Boquillas, the scene of 

 several Mexican raids, that while 



