152 WiDMANN, ^ Visit to Audubotis Birthplace. f A^"l 



a flock of Bronzed Grackles alights. They sit still for a minute, 

 scanning the surroundings, and then come down into the fenced 

 garden lot to feed. They are mostly males, winter visitants from 

 the North. They go in flocks from place to place and to the 

 common roost at night. The single Grackles which we meet in 

 town are not the Bronzed, but of a different kind with many- 

 colored blotches on their back and a slight difference in the voice. 

 In the early morning, before the hordes of Bronzed Grackles have 

 reached the town from their roosting quarters in the distant 

 marsh, the resident Purple Grackle, which spends the night in 

 trees in town, is in undisputed possession of its breakfast table in 

 the streets. 



March i found me on the road leading from Mandeville to 

 Fontainbleau, the plantation where Audubon was born May 4, 

 1780, while his parents were the guests of Marquis de Mandeville 

 Marigny, who lived here in great style, the owner of 500 slaves, 

 mainly employed in the cultivation of sugar cane. 



It is only two miles over a good road and the early morning is 

 nice and cool and pleasant for a walk. The Martin is the first 

 to greet us as we leave the hotel at 6 a. m., but there is bird-life 

 everywhere. From the neighboring yards comes the song of the 

 Carolina and Bewick's Wren. In the magnolias which shade the 

 garden are Ruby-crowned Kinglets with their betraying tcrek, and 

 White-throated Sparrows are hopping over the flower beds as 

 thickly as English Sparrows in big cities. The long double row 

 of live and water oaks, which shade the drive along the lake, is 

 alive with Yellow-rumps ; and Sapsuckers {Sphyrapicus varins) 

 hide behind their trunks. 



It is 6.20 now, and several flocks of Bronzed Grackles are pass- 

 ing over, coming from the marsh in the east and going for the 

 cultivated and wooded region in the west. 



From the railing of one of the numerous wooden bridges, which 

 lead out to the bath-houses, 200 yards from shore, a Kingfisher 

 drops upon his finny prey, and a little farther out over a hundred 

 Coots and Grebes are gamboling in the shallow water of the lake. 



The song of a Chippy comes from a large yard and a big flock 

 flies up into a tree ; they like the company of their own species, 

 always go in flocks and do not mix much with other sparrows. 



