1889
March 26
Tallahassee, Florida.
Clear, very warm at noon, a cool breeze in the late
afternoon. Air very soft & dry. This is a typical spring day
here.
  Started at 7.30 a.m. with little Willis to drive and
"Bingo", the pointer, stowed comfortably on the rear
of the buckboard. Took the Thomasville road, a
new drive for me, and did not stop until we
had passed Lake Hall when we turned in through
a gate on the right and began the rough, tedious
beating across old and often freshly planted fields
of cotton or corn. Duck seems to be against me here
for nearly the whole forenoon passed before I find
a shot, although Mr. Brennan over the same ground
put up eight bevies yesterday killing 25 birds. But
to-day "Bingo" beat field after field of weeds and
brown sedge without so much as getting an old
scent. At length we reached Long Pond, a sheet
of water perhaps half a mile long. I went down to
the shores and flushing a Snipe killed it. Saw an
alligator about 6 f[ee]t long asleep on a log. Heard a
single Grebe and Kingfisher and saw an Ardea herodias.
  Returning to the wagon found that Willis had
smacked down a bevy of five Quail which a negro
had flushed from some broom sedge. I trod over
and "Bingo" pointed two in good style, I getting
all three easily enough.
  We saw nothing more until after lunch which
we took on the edge of a small pond under
some pines. No water fowl in this pond but
in one a few hundred yards further on I
shot a Florida Gallinule and saw a pair of