212 WALKS ABOUT TALLAHASSEE. 



and tall trees. The tender and varied tints 

 of the new leaves, the lively green of the 

 young grain, the dark ploughed fields, the 

 red earth of the wayside I can see them 

 yet, with all that Florida sunshine on them. 

 In the bushes by the fence-row were a pair 

 of cardinal grosbeaks, the male whistling 

 divinely, quite unabashed by the volubility 

 of a mocking-bird who balanced himself on 

 the treetop overhead, 



" Superb and sole, upon a plumed spray," 



and seemed determined to show a Yankee 

 stranger what mocking-birds could really do 

 when they set out. He did his work well ; the 

 love notes of the flicker could not have been 

 improved by the flicker himself ; but, right or 

 wrong, I could not help feeling that the car- 

 dinal struck a truer and deeper note ; while 

 both together did not hinder me from hear- 

 ing the faint songs of grasshopper sparrows 

 rising from the ground on either side of the 

 lane. It was a fine contrast: the mocker 

 flooding the air from the topmost bough, 

 and the sparrows whispering their few al- 

 most inaudible notes out of the grass. Yes, 

 and at the self-same moment the eye also 



