WALKS ABOUT TALLAHASSEE. 219 



lounging about the door of a cabin not far 

 away. It is a happy chance when a man's 

 time is doubly improved. Two of the birds 

 the first ones I had ever seen, to be sure 

 of them perched directly before me on 

 the wire, one facing me, the other with his 

 back turned. It was kindly done ; and 

 then, as if still further to gratify my curi- 

 osity, they visited a hole in the bank. A 

 second hole was doubtless the property of 

 the other pair. Living alternately in 

 heaven and in a hole in the ground, they 

 wore the livery of the earth. 



" They are not fair to outward view 

 As many swallows be," 



I said to myself. But I was not the less 

 glad to see them. 



I should have been gladder for a sight of 

 the big woodpecker, whose reputed dwell- 

 ing-place lay not far ahead. But, though I 

 waited and listened, and went through the 

 swamp, and beyond it, I heard no strange 

 shout, nor saw any strange bird ; and toward 

 noon, just as the sun brushed away the fog, 

 I left the railway track for a carriage by- 

 way which, I felt sure, must somehow bring 

 me back to the city. And so it did, past 



