1890
March 15
Banana Creek, Florida.
as irregular and uncertain as that of a 
moth and to save my life I could not get
the gun fairly on it. At length as it was
getting out of range I fired but certainly
missed it cleanly. It kept on out of sight
in the direction of the landing. We searched 
more than an hour for it but in vain.
Robert showed me a place, in some live oaks
at the north end of the hamack, where he
says over one hundred Turkey Buzzards
assemble nightly to roost in some palmettos
which are scattered about among the oaks.
The ground under these palmettos looked as if
it had been whitewashed. The excrement was
not in spots as under the trees when the Owls
roost but spread out evenly in a thin liquid wash
which covered every inch of the surface.
Saw a Mocking bird in the hamack and
another near the house this morning but
both were silent. Yesterday I saw four black
snakes in the hamack and to-day three.
One crossed the orange grove in close pursuit
of another both going very swiftly - nearly 
as fast as a man could run.
  The change in the weather occurred
while we were looking for the Owl & instead
of the pleasant sail home that we had 
expected we had a hard, cold row against
a stiff wind. It rained hard just
before we reached the house.
  In the afternoon I skinned birds on the 
beach. Saw a fresh track of a wild cat there.