1889
March 16
Tallahassee, Florida.
Clear, still, and hot. Ther. about 80[degrees] at noon.
  Starting at 8.30 a.m. with C. I drove out along
the road taken on the 14th. At the first pond on
the right just beyond the ford heard some Grebes
calling and leaving C. in the buckboard I went in
pursuit of them. There proved to be three ponds
separated by narrow strips of land, the first two
connected by a ditch, the third with neither
inlet or outlet. In the first and third ponds
there were a high pair of Grebes (Podiceps podiceps) each,
in the middle pond a single Grebe and a pair
of Fulix collaris. I spent two or three hours in
going from one pond to another trying every
device I could think of to get shots at these
birds. The Ducks I stalked, shooting the male on
the water at long range. One of the Grebes I
also stalked successfully. another I killed by
concealing myself near its favorite feeding ground
and waiting (perhaps twenty minutes) until it
got over its alarm and swam back. The two Grebes
were [male] & [female] but they were shot in different ponds
and were not a pair.
  In tramping about these ponds I started
fully a dozen Snipe but did not try to shoot
any of them. They  were shy as a rule for there
was absolutely no cover where they were feeding,
usually under live oaks where the ground
was  smooth and merely covered with dead leaves.
  Small birds were numerous and several species
as Cardinals, Yellow-throated and Pine Warblers, in