FLORIDA PRAIRIES AND VIRGINIA MOUNTAINS 287 



material littered the floor of the burrow through- 

 out. Rattlesnakes were plentiful on this prairie, 

 but no communal relations with the owls had 

 been established. 



The other notable bird of the region was the 

 caracara eagle. It was conspicuous on account 

 of its party-colored plumage, and its peculiar 

 flight and strident, cackling cry at once arrested 

 attention. I found three nests of this eagle con- 

 taining young almost ready to fly. Two nests 

 were in cabbage palmettos and one in a pine. 

 They were all about twenty feet from the ground- 

 The caracaras were not shy, and were as great 

 nuisances about camp as the Canada jay is in 

 the North. Their size allowed the pilfering of 

 objects of some weight; a duck or rabbit being 

 readily carried off. 



I have gone into the history of these two birds 

 for the reason that here is a comparatively small 

 isolated prairie presenting conditions similar to 

 regions in Texas. The nearest point in Texas is 

 seven hundred miles away. In the intervening 

 region there are no burrowing owls and no cara- 

 cara eagles ; but both of these birds are character- 

 istic of the arid plains of Texas. There are some 

 miniature prairies on the larger islands of the 

 Bahama group. Here again the burrowing owl 

 is characteristic. Throughout the great pampas 

 and arid dry stretches of South America, away 



