WALKS ABOUT TALLAHASSEE. 225 
not yet seen in Florida. I quickened my 
steps, and to my delight the singer proved 
to be a blue grosbeak. I had caught a 
glimpse of one two days before, as I have 
described in another chapter, but with no 
opportunity for a final identification. Here, 
as it soon turned out, there were at least 
four birds, all males, and all singing ; chas- 
ing each other about after the most per- 
sistent fashion, in a piece of close shrub- 
bery with tall trees interspersed, and act- 
ing — the four of them — just as two birds 
are often seen to do when contending for 
the possession of a building site. At a first 
hearing the song seems not so long sustained 
as the purple finch’s commonly is, but ex- 
ceedingly like it in voice and manner, though 
not equal to it, I should be inclined to say, 
in either respect. The birds made _ fre- 
quent use of a monosyllabic call, correspond- 
ing to the calls of the purple finch and the 
rose-breasted grosbeak, but readily distin- 
guishable from both. I was greatly pleased 
to see them, and thought them extremely 
handsome, with their dark blue plumage set 
off by wing patches of rich chestnut. 
A little farther, and I was saluted by the 
