Brewster on Florida Birds. 
39 
I • 
I few times, would come together and their combined shrieks and 
whooping were absolutely indescribable. Such a meeting occur- 
ring in the middle of the night directly over the boat instantly 
brought us to our feet. It was their mating season, but we could 
not determine whether these outbursts were the love passages of 
the sexes or the rival performances of two males. 
Everywhere by the marshy edges of the river arose a confused 
medley of Hyla voices, among which the tinkling note of the 
bell-frog was especially prominent, and underruning all was the 
low monotone of the crickets, These, with the occasional croak 
of a Heron, were the most characteristic sounds. 
I was early astir next morning and rousing my friend we took 
| our station in the bow to watch the day break. A dense fog 
hung over the narrow river, shrouding even the taller trees, and 
the light struggling into the eastern sky just touched the upper 
wreaths with delicate salmon while all below still lay in gloom. 
Insensibly the tint deepened and worked downward ; the heavens 
grew more opaque ; the stars faded, twinkled feebly, then disap- 
peared and every moment the daylight grew. Almost perfect 
silence reigned. The Owls had ceased ; the frogs and crickets 
were still ; there was a solemn hush over everything ; nature 
seemed to sleep on the eve of her awakening. The river eddied 
swiftly by and so perfect was the stillness that the swash of the 
1 water laving the foliage of a drooping branch on the further shore 
came distinctly to the ear. 
But quickly all was changed. As we looked, the beams of the 
rising sun touched the crests of the cypresses and, working down- 
ward, the undergrowth felt the genial warmth and the whole 
forest became flooded with sunshine. Then, as if the spell were 
broken, the birds began and their various songs swelled into a 
full, glad chorus. From far and near came the reveille of Wood- 
peckers, apparently countless in numbers. A Vireo ( V. olivaceus ) 
sang cheerfully from a sweet-gum near the boat and dozens of 
Warblers could be heard in the surrounding cypresses while a 
Water Thrush warbled a few doubtful notes from the recesses of 
the swamp. 
We had brought with us a small skiff and as the steamer was 
not to start for an hour or more we decided to push on ahead, 
and a few strokes carried us around the nearest bend. On either 
bank rose the column-like trunks of giant cypresses whose branch- 
