2 TH EE, -A'U DUB ON BUD Dies 
On the St. John’s River at Jacksonville we saw our first water turkey, 
or anhinga, although we didn’t realize at the time what it was. South of 
Jacksonville the train follows the Indian River for many miles. This is 
not a river, but a strip of ocean separated from the open sea by a chain 
of islands down the coast. Brown pelicans, cormorants, herring and 
laughing gulls, black and turkey vultures were abundant. Ward’s herons 
(Florida “edition” of our great blue heron), more American egrets, one 
wood ibis and one golden eagle kept us shouting at each other. 
We left the train at West Palm Beach to take a Greyhound bus to 
Okeechobee City, about two and a half hours distant. But we missed our 
connection by five minutes and had to wait five hours for the next bus. 
You could never guess how we killed those five hours! Right the first time! 
We took a local bus to Palm Beach and looked for birds. Caspian terns 
along the beach, myrtle and palm warblers in the hibiscus and bougainvillea 
of the gardens, were the chief finds. Back in West Palm Beach we rested 
in the park along the harbor and got acquainted with the big boat-tailed 
grackles. They were showing off for the females—strutting pompously 
across the grass, making sudden furious dashes at one another that looked 
like the start of a battle to death but was pure bravado, constantly calling 
raucous attention to themselves. The females of course ignored their 
foolishness. It took us a few minutes to realize that these modest birds 
in soft clove-brown and tawny dress were the mates of the far larger 
black birds. 
The Okeechobee bus got us to the Southland Hotel at 10:30 at night, 
considerably the worse for wear after a very long, strenuous day. But a 
good night’s rest restored all our enthusiasm. At 8:30 next morning we 
were introducing ourselves to anyone who carried binoculars and waiting 
impatiently to be off. Alexander Sprunt conducts the Okeechobee trip. 
We were seven in the party, in addition to Mr. Sprunt, who drove the 
station wagon. The thrills began immediately as Mr. Sprunt drove along 
the north shore of Lake Okeechobee. The birds were so numerous that he 
wouldn’t let us waste time or eyesight on anything distant. “Wait until 
we get them closer” he kept insisting. We who are accustomed to catching 
our rare treasures when we first spot them, regardless of distance and light 
conditions, could hardly accustom ourselves to the ease and profligacy of 
Florida bird chasing. We didn’t even “chase” them. We simply got out 
of the station wagon, and there on the marshes beside the road they 
displayed all their beauty for as long as we cared to watch them. Mr. 
Sprunt had to drag us away from every stopping point. We couldn’t 
believe that there was anything half as good ahead. In one spot we would 
see clouds of American and snowy egrets, little blue herons in both im- 
mature white and mature plumage, Louisiana herons, white ibis and big 
wood ibis, which are not ibis at all but America’s only stork. We went 
into ecstasy over the black-necked stilts. We heard the limpkin, but had 
only a fleeting glimpse of it. In the course of the day we saw nineteen 
bald eagles. At one spot we had a most perfect view of the rare glossy 
ibis feeding only a few feet from the station wagon. Mr. Sprunt told us 
