ality. Shorter and more spreading in 

 its habit of growth than most of its kind, 

 its hmbs are gnarled and knotty, strong 

 and muscular with its wrestling with 

 the hurricanes that sweep the bosom of 

 the gulf. It loves the white sand just a 

 few feet above high tide, where it stands 

 as a protector for the weaker growth be- 

 tween the tossing waters and the great 

 pine forest. As is the case with human 

 beings, this vigorous conflict with its 

 surroundings does it good; for no place 

 in the South that I have been have I 

 found the live oaks as plentiful or as 

 vigorous as on this strip of barren sand. 



The birds know a good thing when 

 they see it; hence they are well repre- 

 sented here at this season of the year. 

 Our old acquaintance of the Maumee 

 Valley, the Maryland yellow throat, 

 with his cunning black mask and his 

 cheerful if not wholly musical "Wichety, 

 wichety, wichety," greets us from a 

 perch on a rattan vine, but on our nearer 

 approach dives down into the palmettos, 

 where only the noise made by his tiny 

 feet indicates his whereabouts. Two 

 other warblers, the hooded and the red- 

 start, a little belated, perhaps, have 

 stopped here on their way north to the 

 old nesting grounds on the Kankakee 

 and the Hudson. The most numerous as 

 well as the most conspicuous element of 

 the bird population is the summer tana- 

 ger, whose intensely scarlet coat adds a 

 touch of vivid color very grateful to the 

 eye. Nearly every oak contains one of 

 these redcoats, whistling a solo for our 

 benefit or discussing the details of house- 

 keeping with his m.ore sober coated little 

 wife. 



Almost as numerous as the tanagers, 

 and even more interesting, are the or- 

 chard orioles. Their song has more of 

 the fire and ring of true music, a com- 

 pensation probably for the comparative 

 dullness of their garb. In nest building 

 the orchard oriole is an artist. I remem- 

 ber one day finding in a small water oak 



a nest so carefully woven out of excel- 

 sior as to make me think the bird could 

 knit if he would only turn his talent in 

 that direction. Where twine and ex- 

 celsior are not easily obtained, no doubt 

 they utilize the long streamers of Span- 

 ish moss which hang from half the trees 

 in the gulf country. 



Flying about in the gardens, as tame 

 as robins on northern lawns, or sharing 

 the live oaks with the tanagers and ori- 

 oles, are a multitude of mocking birds. 

 There must be something in Maurice 

 Thompson's suggestion in "By Ways 

 and Bird Notes" that along this coast 

 the mocking birds find those berries and 

 seeds best adapted to develop a high de- 

 gree of musical ability and artistic ex- 

 pression, for these birds certainly sur- 

 pass their brethren found a few hundred 

 miles to the north. 



Besides these land birds there are a 

 multitude of sea birds more conspicuous 

 on account of noise and numbers than 

 bright coloring or attractive ways. The 

 herring gull is very plentiful on this 

 coast,, wherever sand flats and shallow 

 water ofifer attractive feeding grounds. 

 It is a pleasant sight to see a dozen of 

 these pearl gray creatures turning and 

 wheeling, as free and easy as the wind. 

 Just in shore from where the gulls are 

 flying are some fish crows, a thoughtless, 

 noisy set, contented to feast on the crabs 

 and stray minnows which have eluded 

 the watchful gulls. At the edge of the 

 water, just where the wavelets of the 

 receding tide curl and swish before turn- 

 ing back to join their fellows, a couple 

 of sandpipers are running a race, now 

 and then stopping to pick up some tidbit 

 left by the water. A shadow flits along 

 the sand. We look up. A great fish 

 hawk or osprey soars seaward. He sails 

 past the noisy crows, past the graceful 

 g-uUs and steers for Ship Island, that 

 line of darker haze where sky and ocean 

 meet. Truly, April is the season to visit 

 this coast. 



James Stephen Compton. 



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