10 BIRDS OP ALABAMA 



He speaks of having personally observed the habits of the 

 purple gallinule in "the lower parts of Alabama." His record 

 of the flamingo, although apparently not based on his own 

 observation, was doubtless obtained from local residents dur- 

 ing his visit to Pensacola, and furnishes the only record of 

 tjie occurrence of this rare bird in the State. 



In the winter of 1853-54, Charles Lanman traveled through 

 Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. In 

 his "Adventures,"! published in 1856, several chapters were 

 devoted to an account of his experiences in Alabama, includ- 

 ing mention of a number of birds found in the State. His 

 journey carried him from Tallahassee, Florida, up the Chatta- 

 hoochee River to Columbus, Georgia, thence by rail to Atlanta 

 and Macon, Georgia, and to Chattanooga, Tennessee; down 

 the Tennessee River by steamboat to near Huntsville; thence 

 overland to Montgomery, and by steamer to Mobile and up 

 the Tombigbee River to Columbus, Mississippi. Writing of 

 the plantation of St. Stephens, on the Tombigbee, he says : 



If ornithology is his [the visitor's] passion, here he may study 

 the habits of the wild turkey (which are killed by the hundred), 

 of the partridge and quail, of many varieties of the duck tribe, 

 of the vulture and the crow, of the robin (which becomes intoxi- 

 cated by feeding on the buds of the China tree) , of the tropical 

 paraquette with its bright-green plumage, of the glorious 

 mocking-bird, and of the whippoorwill, whose song to the super- 

 stitious negro, portends, in times of sickness, a death on the 

 plantation.^ 



Shortly prior to 1859, Philip Henry Gosse, an English 

 naturalist, resided for seven or eight months in Dallas County, 

 Alabama, teaching school in a little log schoolhouse on the 

 banks of Mush Creek, not far from the village of Pleasant 

 Hill. Keenly interested in the natural history of the region, 

 particularly in the insects, birds, and plants, he published 

 in 1859 some of his observations in a small volume entitled 

 "Letters from Alabama (U. S.), Chiefly Relating to Natural 

 History." In these letters, which constitute practically the 

 first contribution to the ornithology of Alabama, we find 



tLanman, Charles, Adventures in the wilds of the United States and British Ameri- 

 can Provinces, vol. 2, pj>. 146-198, 1856. 

 tOp. cit, p. 187. 



