WALKS ABOUT TALLAHASSEE. 219 
lounging about the door of a cabin not far 
away. It isa happy chance when a man’s 
time is doubly improved. Two of the birds 
— the first ones I had ever seen, to be sure 
of them — perched directly before me on 
the wire, one facing me, the other with his 
back turned. It was kindly done; and 
then, as if still further to gratify my curi- 
osity, they visited a hole in the bank. A 
second hole was doubtless the property of 
the other pair. Living alternately in 
heaven and in a hole in the ground, they 
wore the livery of the earth. 
“‘ They are not fair to outward view 
As many swallows be,”’ 
I said to myself. But I was not the less 
glad to see them. 
I should have been gladder for a sight of 
the big woodpecker, whose reputed dwell- 
ing-place lay not far ahead. But, though I 
waited and listened, and went through the 
swamp, and beyond it, | heard no strange 
shout, nor saw any strange bird ; and toward 
noon, just as the sun brushed away the fog, 
I left the railway track for a carriage by- 
way which, I felt sure, must somehow bring 
me back to the city. And so it did, past 
