A COTTON PLANTATION. 183 



was very fond of natural history, and often 

 regretted that he had not given time to it 

 in his youth. As it was, he protected the 

 birds on his plantation, and the place was 

 full of them. I should find his woods inter- 

 esting, he felt sure. Florida was extremely 

 rich in birds ; he believed there were some 

 that had never been classified. " We have 

 orioles here," he added ; and so far, at any 

 rate, he was right ; I had seen perhaps 

 twenty that day (orchard orioles, that is), 

 and one sat in a tree before us at the mo- 

 ment. His whole manner was most kindly 

 and hospitable, as was that of every Talla- 

 hassean with whom I had occasion to speak, 

 and I told him with sincere gratitude that 

 I should certainly avail myself of his cour- 

 tesy and stroll through his woods. 



I approached them, two mornings after- 

 ward, from the opposite side, where, find- 

 ing no other place of entrance, I climbed a 

 six-barred, tightly locked gate feeling all 

 the while like " a thief and a robber " - in 

 front of a deserted cabin. Then I had only 

 to cross a grassy field, in which meadow larks 

 were singing, and I was in the woods. I 

 wandered through them without finding any- 



