190 A COTTON PLANTATION. 
ivory-bill, but, like other Tallahasseans, he 
thought I should have to go into Lafayette 
County (all Florida people say Lafayette) 
to find it. “That bird calling now is a bee- 
bird,” he said, referring to a kingbird ; “ and 
we have a bird that is called the French 
mocking-bird ; he catches other birds.” The 
last remark was of interest for its bearing 
upon a point about which I had felt some 
curiosity, and, I may say, some skepticism, 
as I had seen many loggerhead shrikes, but 
had observed no indication that other birds 
feared them or held any grudge against them. 
As he rode off he called my attention to a 
great blue heron just then flying over the 
swamp. “They are very shy,” he said. 
Then, from further away, he shouted once 
more to ask if I heard the mocking-bird 
singing yonder, pointing with his whip in 
the direction of the singer. 
For some time longer I hung about the 
glade, vainly hoping that the grosbeak would 
again favor my eyes. Then I crossed more 
planted fields, —climbing more barbed-wire 
fences, and stopping on the way to enjoy the 
sweetly quaint music of a little chorus of 
white-crowned sparrows, — and skirted once 
