150 ON THE UPPER ST. JOHN’S. 
evidently thought me too sensible, or too old, 
to mind a little billing and cooing. And 
they were right in their opinion. What was 
I in Florida for, if not for the study of nat- 
ural history? And truly, I have seldom 
seen, even among birds, a pair less sophisti- 
cated, less cabined and confined by that dis- 
astrous knowledge of good and evil which is 
commonly understood to have resulted from 
the eating of forbidden fruit, and which 
among prudish people goes by the name of 
modesty. It was refreshing. Charles 
Lamb himself would have enjoyed it, and, I 
‘should hope, would have added some quali- 
fying footnotes to a certain unamiable essay 
of his concerning the behavior of married 
people. 
