446 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Dec. 6, 190:2. 
of the town, who often take advantage of moonlight 
nights to make a delightful day's outing. 
It is also the landing place for a large cattle district, 
and the quantity of grain landed shows that a consider- 
able number of" people must be engaged in the stock in- 
dustry. A few more miles brings us into Lake Kissim- 
mee, a body of water some twenty miles long, with sev- 
eral deep bays, which may give it an extreme breadth of 
ten miles. We are now fairly in the cattle country, and 
large herds may be seen on all the shores, and the steam- 
ers stop at various points to land corn for the horses and 
supplies for the riders; we pass Bramah Island, about 
1,200 acres in extent, and at Turkey Haxnmock the lake 
once more contracts, and again we get into the river, 
which now continues for over one hundred miles, till it 
empties itself into the great Lake Okeechobea. The first 
place of importance we stop at is Rattlesnake Ham- 
mock, fourteen miles from the lake; the residence of Mr, 
W. E. Godwin and family. A large clump of bananas 
well advanced in fruit, with their great shining leaves, al- 
most surround the house, and show that, though it is 
now the end of January, the winter in this section is of 
the mildest description ; ripe tomatoes and an ornamental 
garden of shrubs and flowers, such as the royal poin- 
ciana, hibiscus and other tender plants, all out in bloom, 
bear out this fact, and are an object lesson by showing 
the value of the climate prevailing here. A flock of sheep 
were feeding near the river, and our attention was at- 
tracted to a herd of well graded cattle, as well as some 
well-bred pigs. As we leave Mr. Godwin places in our 
hands a specimen of a Florida life presers^er in the shape 
of a sweet potato, as perfectly and evenly fonned as a 
large muskmelon, and weighing nine pounds. So per- 
fect is its shape that we have placed it on exhibition as a 
pattern to our farmers. 
From here we wriggle and twist through a tortuous 
river, compared to which the letter S is a straight line, 
but our captain knows the river and his boat, and nego- 
tiates the banks in good style, though occasionall}^ an ex- 
ceedingly acute angle — it cannot be called a bend— com- 
pels us to stop and back up — and then we arrive at 
Orange Hammock, long famous as the finest grove on the 
river, and for the quality of its fruit. Many of the trees 
are over twenty years old, and though at the time of our 
visit the greater number of the oranges, over 3,000 boxes, 
had been shipped, still there were enough left to show 
the excellent quality and productiveness of the trees. The 
grapefruit trees were particularly well loaded, and a 
curious feature of the grove is the number of trees budded 
on the same stock with orange, grapefruit and tangerines. 
Some sixty hives of bees are kept here, and we learn that 
last year over one ton of honey was shipped from this 
grove, clearly indicating another great industry in the 
near future. 
Leaving Orange Hammock, some miles of more crooked 
river brings us to Fort Kissimmee, so named during the 
Seminole war, when, in March, 1852, the fort was erected 
and occupied by the United States troops. Now, the In- 
dian war whoop is heard no more along the river banks, 
and the place is peacefully occupied by one of the valley 
cattle kings and pioneers, Joe Gay. Again we are on our 
way, ever getting further south, twisting and turnmg about 
in the crooked stream, which shows clearly through the 
wondrous aquatic growth of bonnets, with their great 
leaves shimmering in the sunshine on the surface of the 
water, while their long stems rise from their roots away 
down in nine or ten feet of water. Long fringes of water 
willow line the banks for miles, where these are partly 
submerged. Bull-tongue, water-lettuce, Indian arrow, 
saw and cane grass fill up the spaces unoccupied by the 
bonnets, but all adding a bright greenness most refreshmg 
to the eye. Where the high land strikes the river great 
live oaks, moss festooned, hang over the water, and large 
clumps of giant palm trees add a pleasing change to the 
apparently never ending marsh of aquatic plants, through 
which the river wends its way, but everywhere there are 
cattle. You see them away back on the prairie as far as 
the eye can reach, in the hammocks, and here and there 
we see them feeding in the marshes, with the water nearly 
up to their backs. They have grown accustomed to the 
steamers, and barely lift their heads as we steam close 
past them. Now and again we make _ out a bunch of 
razorbacked hogs, but as a rule most of the settlers are 
now keeping improved breeds, and the long-snouted, slab- 
sided rooter will soon pass away. As we came sharply 
round some of the bends, we disturb an alligator basking 
in the sun on the banks, but they quickly splash heavily 
into the deep water below. 
The bird life is wonderful; it is now midwinter, and 
large flocks of big gray duck, pintail and teal, fly wildly 
away on our approach. A purple galHnule, or the beau- 
tiful crested wood duck, occasionally give us a glimpse of 
their brilliant plumage, and the ubiquitous coot just flaps 
out of our way or dives under a branch leaf, to reappear 
when we have passed. Numbers of those birds so faitk- 
fully and well depicted by Japanese artists, the great heron, 
are to be seen perched on low bushes, or standing m the 
marsh with outstretched neck ready to strike frog or fish. 
We disturb them, and with legs stretched out and neck 
tucked in, they wing their heavy flight lazily away; long 
curved bill, brown limpkins, eye us curiously, and either fly 
or run a few feet off and go on with their feeding on 
snails or small crustaceans. Mexican buzzards, eagles and 
hawks soar over our heads, while blackbirds and rice- 
birds are everywhere. Great flights of white curlew wing 
their phalanx-formed way to and from their feeding 
grounds in the early mornings and evenings, and during 
the day whiten the willows with their numbers, but we 
miss the plume birds and the pink ibis, which were once 
so numerous on this river; alas, they have all gone- 
killed out to gratify a feminine fashion of adornment. 
More bends and twists bring us to where the river from 
Lake Istokpoga joins the Kissimmee River, and here we 
make a trade with a party of hunters for coon and otter 
hides brought down from the lake, and again we wriggle 
along ever getting further south, past Miccos Bluff, and 
then reach Laniers. At this place high oak land comes 
steeply down to the river for a long distance, and a great 
deal of this has been cleared up and set with groves, 
which will soon be planted out into one continuous grove 
of over a mile in length ; some of the trees are now ten 
years old and are in splendid condition, and when the 
different groves are all connected and set out with about 
2 000 trees, it will certainly be the show place of the river. 
We must not omit to mention that it mcludes the famous 
old Pierce grapefruit grove, containing about eighty trees, 
many of them over thirty years old. They are immense in 
size, and their bearing qualities arfe in proportion to their 
size. 
A little further on we reach Fort Bassinger, also an old 
military camp during the Seminole war, situated on the 
proper right bank of the river, now an orange grove on 
high commanding land, which rises steep trom the river ; 
on the other side of the river, about two miles back, is 
the settlement of Bassinger, with the thriving village of the 
same name, containing several good stores, church and 
schoolhouse. The settlement has a population of about 
two hundred, and the principal occupation is connected 
with the cattle industi-y, of which this place is the great 
center. The range in this section seems admirably suited 
to stock raising, and it has long been the home of one of 
Florida's chief cattle kings,- Mr, Morgan, who has been 
credited with about 30.000 head ; but there are many more 
in the district with their thousands. These people are 
now making themselves comfortable homes, and with the 
establishment of regular steam communication will be 
able to provide themselves with many more of the luxuries 
of life than they have hitherto been able to obtain. 
Bassinger, which is about 150 miles from Kissimmee, is 
half Avay to Fort Myers ; after leaving Fort Bassinger, the 
river finds its way through a great sawgrasi-covered 
marsh, forming the connnencement of the great Ever- 
glades, in wdiich Ponce de Leon expected to find the foun- 
tain of eternal youth, some forty miles lirings the traveler 
into the great Lake Okeechobee, in the middle of which 
you get out of sight of land, and Avhich from its shallow- 
ness can be very rough. Thirty miles from the entrance 
of the Kissimmee River a canal leads into a small lake, 
Hickpochee, and from that the Caloosahatchce flows. The 
river then runs by Fort Thompson, Fort Denand, and 
other places of interest connected with the Seminole war, 
and then you feel a saltiness in the air, and smell the 
ozone of the sea, and you find the steamer heading down 
the Caloosahatchce Harbor, and the voyage is ended at 
Fort Myers. There are three lines of steamers engaged 
on the river work, making each a weekly trip to Bas- 
singer, viz., the Lillit, Capt. Johnson, new steamer; the 
Bassinger, owned and sailed by the Gilbert brothers, and 
Capt. Hall's Naoma. These boats are all skillfully han- 
dled, and it spealcs volumes for the enterprise of their 
owners that, in spite of low water and small freights for 
many years, they have stuck to it in full confidence of the 
future of the Kissimmee Valley, and now, with increasing 
settlements and general prosperity of the residents, they 
are beginning to reap the reward of their patience and 
perseverance. 
The most important factor in the prosperity of Osceola 
county is stock raising. From very early days in the 
history of Florida, the Kissimmee Valley and adjoining 
ranges have been regarded as about the finest in the State, 
and probably in the whole of the United States. Many 
things conduce to make them so, good pasture, shelter, 
abundance of water and mild winters, making it an ideal 
country for all kinds of stock, as they can be left through- 
out the year in undisturbed possession of their pasturage, 
and change it according to the season, moving from the 
high prairies when the grass there becomes used up to 
the low, marshy grounds which follow the course of the 
Kissimmee River for so many miles, affording an abund- 
ance of the richest food at all times when the water is not 
too high. An idea of the importance of this section can 
be formed from the fact that about 100,000 head of cattle 
are annually grazed upon it, their total subsistence being 
obtained from the natural native growth, which reduces 
the cost of raising to a minimum. 
The Drumming of the Grouse. 
A GREAT portion of •our information and general knowl- 
edge must come through the investigation and observation 
of others ; therefore it is interesting and instructive to read 
or hear the opinions of others, and much more, the result 
of their investigations. That which affords such a wide 
field for discussion, and brings out such heated arguments 
regarding wild animal life and natural history, is the fact 
that it is the animate object that is being dealt with, and 
even much experience will not make us gracious enough 
to allow the animal or bird of our opponent m discussion 
to act differently from that which may have come withm 
our own experience. The chemist believes that he knows 
the result that would be obtained by combining two or 
more liquids, after reading the experience of some one 
who has tried the experiment and given the result; but it 
some one were to claim to him that such results were not 
to be obtained, he would easfly be made skeptical, because 
he did not "know" that such was the case only from read- 
ing it; but allow him to make the same experiment hiin- 
self, and obtain the same result, and all creation could 
not change his belief, because he "knows what he is talking 
about " That is all right, and admits of little chance for 
argument, because it is dealing with inanimate objects, 
whieh are generally the same under like conditions. As 
I said much of our general knowledge must come through 
what we liear and read, as a result of the observations of 
others and this, when dealing with inanimate objects, is 
more or less reliable; but in natural history nothing is 
so satisfying as personal contact with the subject studied. 
If a friend told us of an experience with beast or bird, 
and its attendant result, and we were to have an experi- 
ence of like character with the same species, with an en- 
tirely different result, we would always expect a like result 
as our experience had brought, under the same conditions, 
no matter what confidence we may have in the truthfulness 
of that friend. We frequently hear that certain actions 
will result in certain conditions, and it is my delight to 
investigate such reports, and had circumstances permitted 
it would have been the joy of my life to have devoted all 
my time to the study of wild creatures, for surely no study 
could be more fascinating. • , j , j ..t, ;f t 
When a child, I was told by my wicked elders that li i 
would put salt on a bird's tail I could catch it; and many 
vain efforts did I make to land the salt where it would 
work the charm. , ^ . i- j ti.„«. 
It has been asserted, and to some extent believed, that 
while a partridge is drumming, it is deaf and blind to all 
its surroundings, so that if one were near enough when it 
begins drumming he might go right up to it without its 
stopping. I could not rest until I tested it, although not 
believing it. One day, being in the woods and hearing 
one drumming, I crawled up behind a log until I was 
within twenty-five yards of it, then lay quietly until it be- 
gan drumming, when I jumped over the log I was behind, 
thinking to make a dash toward it, and drop doAvn just 
before it Avould stop, and thus work my way up to it. 
The instant I landed over the log, although it was right 
in the midst of its drumming operations, it stopped, 
jumped off the log and ran off through the woods. Then 
I "knew" they had the full use of all their acute senses 
while in the act of drumming. It is considered quite diffi- 
cult to approach near this wary bird while they are 
perched on their favorite log, sending forth their autum- 
nal thunderings, but I have never found any difficulty in 
getting where I could w^atch their performance, and when 
a boy that was my favorite method of hunting them, hav- 
ing shot them when in the midst of their drumming pro- 
cess. Many people believe they produce the sound of 
their drumming by striking their wings on the log, while 
others claim the sound comes from the tips of their wings 
striking together, but it is simply, as most people know, 
their wings striking their body, and is the same as the 
noise produced by flying. 
When they drum they rear back until their head is per- 
pendicular with their feet, which gives their wings a hori- 
zontal movement, instead of up and down, as would nat- 
urally be supposed. During the month ©f October of this 
year I was visiting the old home in Pennsylvania, and 
while out rambling through the old familiar woods where 
I hunted in boyhood. I heard a partridge drurtlTning about 
100 yards away. I began my old-time cautious approach, 
and finally got the range, which seemed to locate it near 
an old dead chestnut tree. Beyond this tree about 50 
feet, was a large log lying off the ground, which hid 
from view everything beyond it ; about 20 feet beyond the 
tree was a shorter log, which was also rather high ; be- 
tween these was a little short log lying flat on the ground, 
entirely out of my sight when down on my hands and 
knees, and about 30 feet from the tree, and on this little 
log the old cock was standing. I concluded he must be 
beyond the furthest log. but waited for his next report; 
presently it came, and as it sounded on ahead I went on 
noiselessly as before, and just as my head came around 
the end of the first log which brought me in view of the 
little log, I heard the familiar k-r k-r k-r, and looked 
around just in time to see him not over 10 feet from me, 
which was the closest ever I got to one while at its drum- 
ming. Emerson Carney. 
MORGANTOrt'N, W. Va, 
Wild Pigeon Flights. ' 
Audubon has left a description of a myriad migration 
of wild pigeons he witnessed in Kentucky. Evidently he 
did not witness the most interesting feature connected 
with the congregation of wild pigeons, or he certainly 
would have included it in his account. I refer to the 
collection of the birds at night — a pigeon roost. I had 
the pleasure of witnessing such a scene as the naturalist 
describes in northern Louisiana in 1873 ; and I can testify 
that Audubon does not in any way exaggerate as to the 
number of the pigeons seen. 
About ten o'clock in the morning a cry was raised by 
some boys in the streets of the small town in which I re- 
sided, "Look at the pigeons ! The pigeons ! The pigeons !" 
The cry becoming general, everybody, old and young, men 
and boys, women and girls, ran into the streets to look 
at the immense numbers of the passing birds. Many 
seized their guns and ran to a waste field on the west side 
of the town, and there banged away at the feathered pas- 
sengers, killing some, but not disturbing the birds any 
more than to fluster those overhead a little, just as a stick 
or stone flung into flowing water will create a momentary 
divergence among some of the particles, but the gap is 
speedily filled up and smoothed over by the ever rushing 
stream. 
The birds were fairly above the tops of the tallest tim- 
ber, about one hundred and fifty feet high ; and were fly* 
ing in a southern direction. It is impossible to make any 
estimate of the vast numbers that passed, but from 10 
o'clock in the morning till nearly 2 o'clock in the after- 
noon, the air was literally filled with them. They flew in 
regiments, in corps, and in divisions ; some of the later 
stretching for miles in length, numerous tiers in depth, 
and exhibiting so close and compact a body that the wings 
seemed almost to touch, and coming between the ob- 
server and the sun, shut out the light so completely as to 
have it appear that the twilight had come on. 
The field afforded an unobstructed view, both north and 
south, for a considerable distance, and one could see flocks 
of birds in the air for more than a mile, appearing at first 
like thin blue clouds, but becoming more and more dense 
as they continued to approach, until sufficiently near the 
observer for him to descry, first, innumerable dots as 
composing the nebula, and then in a few seconds more 
behold those dots transformed into flying birds. 
Looking upward and northward, one could trace the 
dark blue column until the limit of vision was reached, 
and when at last the termination of a great flock was per- 
ceived, a mass, dense and dark, composed of hundreds of 
tiers of birds, extending downward toward the earth, and 
stretching out for a considerable distance on each side, 
the line of flight appeared like a great cross-bar, which 
the long coktmn was dragging, and forming a fitting 
period to the aerial march of millions. 
The zone, or path of passage— hardly a half mile wide 
-vvas quite closely adhered to ; indeed, the greater num- 
ber of the flocks, of which there were several hundred, 
perhaps a thousand or more during _ the day — ^passed 
through a space of considerably less width. 
The migration was doubtless due to the breaking up of 
a roost some distance to the northward, incident to the 
food supply of that region becoming exhausted, and the 
immense numbers were now moving over a territory, 
where the oak timber, probably having suffered from late 
frosts and ravages of insects, offered little or no induce- 
ments for a halt, to a district further south, where the 
season had been more propitious and the acorn food was 
to be found in abundance. „ . . , . 
Wild pigeons seem to prefer to fly in single tiers, at 
