NATURE STUDY IN SCHOOLS. 163 



more querulous note was heard. Paul fired a shot from his breech loader 

 and brought down a woodpecker, with a black and white banded back, and 

 having tufts of red on the sides of the back of the head. 



"Isn't it a cockaded woodpecker"? he asked the Professor alter he ex- 

 amined it. 



" Yes," was hurriedly answered, for by this time the trees overhead were 

 swarming with birds, and shots rang out repeatedly. But in a few moments 

 all was quiet, the trees being apparently deserted. Some twenty-five speci- 

 mens of a dozen species, consisting of warblers, nuthatches, woodpeckers, etc, 

 had been secured, however, and our collectors returned homeward, concluding 

 that they had taken enough for one day. 



As they proceeded on their way across the sunlit pine woods, with the 

 balmy, invigorating breezes which sweep over tropical Florida, blowing in their 

 faces, I will introduce the party more fully to the reader. 



Harry Jones was the son of a rich merchant of Hubtown who, one 

 evening that Professor Hall said he was going on an extended collecting tour, 

 and as Harry exhibited some taste for the study of natural history, induced 

 the Professor to take him with him. 



Paul Webber's parents were dead ; his father dying some years before, 

 had left enough property to give his son the rudiments of an education, and 

 as the boy was naturally bright and studious, the Professor had asked him 

 to go on the trip, defraying his expenses on condition that he render him 

 some assistance. 



George Johnson was also the son of wealthy parents, and as he was a 

 friend of Paul's, and also exhibited a decided taste for studying nature, it was 

 concluded to place him under the care of the Professor. 



Professor Hall was one of those decided lovers of science whose name 

 was known on both sides of the Atlantic on account of his original investi- 

 gations in his favorite studies. 



Ponce, Paul's dog, the last on the list, was a black and white setter 

 which had been presented to him when she was a puppy by a gentleman 

 who had seen Paul shoot quail on Cape Cod. Paul had trained her, and a 

 the dog was intelligent and apt to learn, she was not only a first class 

 bird dog, but also an expert at finding birds' nests, or any object that 

 her master requested her to find. 



The Professor had selected this lonely portion of Florida, partly be- 

 cause the objects he wished to obtain were more plentiful there, but mainly 

 because the remnants of the tribe of Seminole Indians lived there and he 

 wished to become acquainted with the customs of a race of men which were 

 rapidly passing away. 



