deere a es. BONG .boU Ly De Beran 9 
ideal spot for the anhinga, and accordingly they were seen in all stages, 
old and young, one female incubating eggs since six weeks, Mr. Beadel said. 
A habitat of still another type was Shell Point, on Apalachee Bay, 
south of Tallahassee. Here for the first time I saw the gray kingbird, which, 
true to its name, is like our kingbird, only decidedly grayer. It does not 
seem to be overly common anywhere. Also the dainty little ground dove was 
numerous here. When they fly they show a patch of dull red on the lower 
wing coverts. Then fish crows, southern crows, boat-tailed grackles, the 
brown pelican, least and Cabot’s terns, laughing gulls, willets, black-bellied 
plovers, and other migrating shore birds could be seen, also purple martins 
and rough-winged swallows. 
But the climax of my visit to this wonderful region came in the form 
of a trip to Wakulla Springs, between Tallahassee and Apalachee Bay. I 
had long wanted to see the limpkin, that odd, wailing, heron-like bird of the 
South, and there in only a few places. Wakulla is one of them. The sight 
of one and its loud call were the first things we saw and heard upon 
arriving at the spring. In all we saw about 20 of them stalking along the 
edge of the giant spring and the sizable stream fiowing from it. Their voice 
is odd indeed, wailing, clucking, scolding-like, some tones like those of a 
young crow, altogether a weird performance. One allowed us to come within 
fifteen to twenty feet of it before taking off. Their food is a large ampul- 
larian snail, heaps of the shells of which were seen on every log or other 
foothold. Add to these about 50 anhingas, 2 Mississippi kites, 3 ospreys 
flying near their huge nests, many black and turkey vultures, several white 
ibises, and you can ferm a mental picture of the avian life of this wonderful 
place, not to speak of the plant and other animal life. 
Once more I salute Mr. Stoddard and his estimable lady, from this 
distance, in fond recollection of the unforgettable days spent there. 
River Forest, Illinois 
ft ia FI 
THAT BIRDS whose nests have been disturbed will in most cases desert them 
is the general belief of students of bird behavior, but Mrs. Maurice Sage, 
ot North Bay, Ontario, has told us of a pair that were not so readily 
discouraged. 
When Mr. and Mrs. Sage went to open their summer cottage this spring 
and started to place wire screens about the porch, a robin’s nest was found 
on a ledge that would be enclosed by the screens. There were eggs in the 
nest and they did not want to keep the birds away from them, so it was 
decided to move the nest to a shelf several feet away, but outside the screen. 
It was loosened and placed in the new position, and the mother bird returned 
to the nest while they still stood watching. 
The following week-end the robins were found to be still brooding. 
The incubation period for robins varies from 11 to 14 days, so the clutch 
must have been newly completed just before the moving of the nest, for 
when the family went to the cottage on the second week-end they found 
newly-hatched young. All of which goes to show that the actions and re- 
actions of some birds are as individual as those of their human neighbors. 
