130 FLORIDA 



blue jays, phoebes, ground doves, blue-gray gnat- 

 catchers, ruby-crowned kinglets, a male nonpareil, 

 a Baltimore oriole, a crested flycatcher, a hum- 

 mingbird, and a hermit thrush. A varied bunch 

 of feathers, and no mistake. 



In the tropical hammock, on the other hand, 

 during the same forenoons, I saw, as well as I re- 

 member, nothing but white-eyed vireos, phoebes, 

 catbirds, cardinals, palm and myrtle warblers, 

 crested flycatchers, nonpareils, and gnatcatchers. 

 So completely has the condition of things been 

 reversed with the change of season. 



Other signs are not lacking that March has 

 brought the spring. Mockingbirds are daily be- 

 coming more rhapsodical. The other afternoon, 

 out among the cabins of the black suburb, I 

 stood still while three sang at once on different 

 sides. They are friends of the poor, as well as 

 of the rich. This morning two yellow-throated 

 vireos sang, chattered, and whistled ; and a most 

 delicious trilled whistle theirs is, soft, musical, 

 full of sweet and happy feeling. Better still, 

 almost (because more of a novelty), a yellow- 

 throated warbler sang his dreamy tune over and 

 over. This is one of the most exquisite birds ever 

 made ; of quiet, modest colors, bluish-black and 

 white, with a single bright jewel to set them off 

 a gorget of brilliant yellow. To-day I have 



