224 WALKS ABOUT TALLAHASSEE. 



the swollen stumps, three or four feet high, 

 of larger trees which had been felled. I 

 pushed in through the surrounding shrub- 

 bery and bay-trees, and waited for some 

 time, leaning against one of the larger 

 trunks and listening to the noises, of which 

 the air of the swamp was full. Great- 

 crested flycatchers, two Acadian flycatchers, 

 a multitude of blue yellow-backed warblers, 

 and what I supposed to be some loud-voiced 

 frogs were especially conspicuous in the con- 

 cert ; but a Carolina wren, a cardinal, a red- 

 eyed vireo, and a blue-gray gnatcatcher, the 

 last with the merest thread of a voice, con- 

 tributed their share to the medley, and once 

 a chickadee struck up his sweet and gentle 

 strain in the very depths of the swamp 

 like an angel singing in hell. 



My walk on the railway, that wonderful 

 St. Mark's branch (I could never have im- 

 agined the possibility of running trains over 

 so crazy a track), took me through the 

 choicest of bird country. The bushes were 

 alive, and the air rang with music. In the 

 midst of the chorus I suddenly caught some- 

 where before me what I had no doubt was 

 the song of a purple finch, a bird that I had 



