FLORIDA PRAIRIES AND VIRGINIA MOUNTAINS 289 



of two bands of gorgeous tints and hues wreath- 

 ing the shores. 



In the woods, a little earlier in the season, aza- 

 lias of the flame-colored variety blossom in pro- 

 fusion, and throughout the summer a prolific 

 succession of many-hued wild flowers delight the 

 sojourner. 



The songs of the veery and solitary vireo ring 

 through the hemlocks, snowbird's nests are more 

 common than chipping-sparrows by the roadsides, 

 while red-breasted nuthatches rear their young on 

 the edge of every clearing. Yellow-bellied sap- 

 suckers are the commonest breeding woodpeckers, 

 and olive-sided flycatchers are not rare. The 

 Canada fly-catching warbler is almost as frequently 

 met with as the snowbird, and together with the 

 Blackburnian, the black- throated blue and the 

 black-throated green warblers, form a group 

 whose members are conspicuous during the 

 breeding season. Ravens and pileated wood- 

 peckers are to be seen daily, and the voice of 

 the turkey has not been silenced. Bird life is 

 not only varied, for only the most notable kinds 

 have been indicated, it is redundant. 



But you began to talk of Virginia, the land of 

 the redbird and mocker! Of the magnolia and 

 persimmon ! Yes, but this is an island. Not an 

 island in the water, but in the air. For at high 

 altitudes the conditions of more northern low- 



