234 WALKS ABOUT TALLAHASSEE. 
passed Carolina wrens, house wrens, a chip- 
per, a field sparrow, two thrashers, an abun- 
dance of chewinks, two orchard orioles, 
several tanagers, a flock of quail, and mock- 
ing-birds and cardinals uncounted. In a 
pine wood near by, a wood pewee, a pine 
warbler, a yellow-throated warbler, and a 
pine-wood sparrow were singing —a most 
peculiarly select and modest chorus. Just 
at the lowest point in the valley I stopped 
to listen to a song which I did not recognize, 
but which, by and by, I settled upon as 
probably the work of a freakish prairie war- 
bler. At that moment, as if to confirm my 
conjecture, — which in the retrospect be- 
comes almost ridiculous, —a prairie warbler 
hopped into sight on an outer twig of the 
water-oak out of which the music had pro- 
ceeded. Still something said, “ Are you 
sure?”’ and I stepped inside the fence. 
There on the ground were two or three 
white-crowned sparrows, and in an instant 
the truth of the case flashed upon me. I 
remembered the saying of a friend, that the 
song of the white-crown had reminded him 
of the vesper sparrow and the black-throated 
green warbler. That was my bird; and | 
