12 DHE AU eDiUL GE OeNe ees Del ee te 
of travels in this state draw pictures of a wonderfully rich birdlife as found 
50 to 70 years ago? That is not even counting such species as the Everglade 
kite, great white heron, small sparrow hawk, Insular red-shouldered hawk, 
limpkin, and others which either belong to the West Indian fauna, or are 
to be found to some extent sparingly along the Gulf coast west of Florida. 
But this is no longer true; one must bear in mind the spreading out over 
the scene of the white man, who intentionally or unintentionally destroys 
animals and plants. The writer lives at Windermere, Orange County, a 
charming village nestling among lakes in the Orlando citrus belt. Alternat- 
ing with orange groves are hammocks, i.e., stands of hardwood trees on 
slightly higher land, “scrub,” consisting of low, scrubby oak and other 
shrubs, cattle range, and pine flats, a fine bird observation stand without 
leaving the place. Yet I have in over a year’s watching seen not a single 
red-cockaded woodpecker, Florida chickadee, and many others, and of the 
Florida jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens) only two or three pairs. Of course, 
it must be borne in mind that with the present restrictions one cannot get 
far from home in his car. 
There should be a rich birdlife here. But this is what one may see during 
a drive to Orlando, 13 miles east: 5-6 mockingbirds, 2-3 southern meadow- 
larks, 2-3 loggerhead shrikes, 1-2 pair white-eyed towhees, 2-3 bluebirds, 
1-2 flickers, 1-2 little sparrow hawks, 1-2 Florida jays, 1-2 pair Florida 
cardinals,, 2-3 mourning doves, 2-3 ground doves, 1-2 American and snowy 
egrets, 1-2 little blue herons, and 1-2 Ward’s herons, but usually not half 
that many. One would expect to see fiocks of boat-tailed and Florida grackles, 
but I have seen them only twice or three times in over a year; one female 
boat-tail came on my feeding shelf once, rudely chasing away all others. 
In fact, the feeding shelf may give one a good idea of what is here in 
the line of birds. The following species have so far visited mine, in the order 
of abundance: Florida bobwhites, blue jays, redwings, red-bellied wood- 
peckers, cardinals, ground doves, tufted titmice, brown thrashers, and white- 
eyed towhee. The mockingbird is everywhere; it and the flicker and crested 
flycatcher looked the shelf over once or twice, but not finding insects, left in 
disgust. The least wary, most confiding is the white-eye, followed closely by 
the ground dove and tufted tit. The mourning dove can only be heard once 
in a while. Like Illinois, Florida too has, to its discredit, the mourning 
dove on its list of game birds. There were no English sparrows here when 
~ we arrived in October 1942, but soon after I saw two near a poultry yard; 
soon the pair had grown into eight, which also visit my feeding shelf timidly. 
The Florida crow and the chuck-wills-widow stay away from it. 
What about the glory of avian Florida, the water birds? There numbers 
are better, but far from the former excessive abundance. Instead of seeing 
many herons and egrets in the swamps and pools along the roads, three or 
four are all that can be detected in a drive of 20 miles or more. My place is 
almost on the shore of Lake Butler, a most attractive waterbody. About 200 
yards from our shore is a wooded island which is a bird sanctuary. There 
one can see quite a few birds, especially at nesting time. Here is the ap- 
proximate population: 50 to 100 pair white ibises (formerly thousands), 
50 pair American egrets, 25 pair snowy egrets, 50 pair little blue herons, 
