226 WALKS ABOUT TALLAHASSEE. 



saucy cry of my first Florida chat. The 

 fellow had chosen just such a tangled 

 thicket as he favors in Massachusetts, and 

 whistled and kept out of sight after the 

 most approved manner of his kind. On the 

 other side of the track a white-eyed vireo 

 was asserting himself, as he had been doing 

 since the day I reached St. Augustine ; but 

 though he seems a pretty clever substitute 

 for the chat in the chat's absence, his light 

 is quickly put out when the clown himself 

 steps into the ring. Ground doves cooed, 

 cardinals whistled, and mocking-birds sang 

 and mocked by turns. Orchard orioles, no 

 unworthy companions of mocking-birds and 

 cardinals, sang here and there from a low 

 treetop, especially in the vicinity of houses. 

 To judge from what I saw, they are among 

 the most characteristic of Tallahassee birds, 

 as numerous as Baltimore orioles are in 

 Massachusetts towns, and frequenting much 

 the same kind of places. In one day's walk 

 I counted twenty-five. Elegantly dressed as 

 they are, and elegance is better than 

 brilliancy, perhaps, even in a bird, they 

 seem to be thoroughly democratic. It was 

 a pleasure to see them so fond of cabin door- 

 yards. 



