I02 Brewstek 0)1 Southern Birds. 



despair, and at sunset that e\'ening for the lirst and only time 

 during ni}' stay his voice was missing in the general chorus. 

 But at daylight the next morning the garden rang with a perfect 

 imitation of the Yellow-leg's whistle. He had mastered it during 

 the night, and eyer after\vards it was his favorite part. The dis- 

 comfiture of the rival males in the neighborhood was as amusing 

 as it was unmistakable. Each in tin^n tried it. but not one of them 

 succeeded. 



Another frequenter of the village shrubbery was the Orchard 

 Oriole. His flute-like voice, which bears some resemblance 

 to that of the Fox Sparrow, could be heard almost any time after 

 April lo. Our garden offered especial attractions to these 

 Orioles, for the hedge of wild olive trees that bordered it on two 

 sides was overrun with Cherokee roses and trumpet-vines among 

 which they found a congenial shelter. They were fond, too, of 

 sipping the honey from the trumpet-flowers, and it was no un- 

 common thing to see half-a-dozen collected about a single clus- 

 ter. In this occupation they were almost invariably joined by 

 numerous Hummingbirds ; — and such a group, with its setting of 

 green leaves and scarlet and white blossoms, formed the prettiest 

 picture imaginable. 



To our garden also came the Blue Jays : bold, familiar birds 

 very different in bearing from the outcast that boys and would-be 

 sportsmen pursue so relentlessly in the northern woods. Every- 

 ^yhere at the South this |ay is as much an inhabitant of the 

 cultivated grounds as of the forests, and if not actually encouraged, 

 it is universally tolerated. In Jacksonville I have heard them 

 screaming among the live-oaks that shade the busiest streets, 

 and at St. Mary's they were scarcely less tame and confiding 

 than the Mockingbirds. 



Tlie average Georgian is indifferent to the shooting of most 

 of the birds that inhabit his- plantation ; but it is little short 

 of a crime in his eyes to take the life of either a Turkey 

 Buzzard or a Mockingbird. The killing of one of the for- 

 mer is considered an offence against the State, which protects 

 tliem on account of their services as scavengers. But the Mock- 

 ing birds are treasured as personal property, and any interference 

 with them is sure to l:>e promptly resented. The natural result 

 of this sentiment is that both species are universally abundant 

 and familiar. The Buzzards, especially, arc ubiquitous. At 



