234 WALKS ABOUT TALLAHASSEE. 



passed Carolina wrens, house wrens, a chip- 

 per, a field sparrow, two thrashers, an abun- 

 dance of chewinks, two orchard orioles, 

 several tanagers, a flock of quail, and mock- 

 ing-birds and cardinals uncounted. In a 

 pine wood near by, a wood pewee, a pine 

 warbler, a yellow-throated warbler, and a 

 pine-wood sparrow were singing a most 

 peculiarly select and modest chorus. Just 

 at the lowest point in the valley I stopped 

 to listen to a song which I did not recognize, 

 but which, by and by, I settled upon as 

 probably the work of a freakish prairie war- 

 bler. At that moment, as if to confirm my 

 conjecture, which in the retrospect be- 

 comes almost ridiculous, a prairie warbler 

 hopped into sight on an outer twig of the 

 water-oak out of which the music had pro- 

 ceeded. Still something said, " Are you 

 sure?" and I stepped inside the fence. 

 There on the ground were two or three 

 white-crowned sparrows, and in an instant 

 the truth of the case flashed upon me. I 

 remembered the saying of a friend, that the 

 song of the white-crown had reminded him 

 of the vesper sparrow and the black-throated 

 green warbler. That was my bird ; and I 



