122 AUDUBON THE NATURALIST, 
of tke water. Though so timid, they are con 
fiding, and will permit a person’s near approach. 
Thug Audubon, once hoped to become the pos- 
sessor of one alive, and imagined himself on the 
point of a triumphant capture, when the dove 
turned upon him her beautiful eye, and he found 
that his intention was discovered. Gently she 
glided aside in her nest, then suddenly took to- 
wing. Hovering around, she would alight with- 
in a few yards of her beloved nest—her wings 
drooping in sorrow, and her whole form trem 
bling as if from severe cold. “ Who could bear 
such a scene of despair?” exclaims Audubon, 
“T left the mother in security with her off. 
spring.” 
In the morning, while concealed beneath some 
low spreading branch, her love-notes are given 
forth. Then, when with the freshness of the 
morn, the opening flowers spread out all their 
fragrance, and the sun with increasing ardour 
glances through the evergreen and thickly leaved 
oaks, to escape which the owl, swiftly flying 
close over the earth, hastens to his retreat, and 
the heavy winged bat undulates through the 
dewy air, then the melodious accents of her 
most enchanting voice may best be heard. 
The ground dove, closely resembling the 
Zenaida dove in its habits, is another visitor of 
the middle portions of the East Florida coast, 
