The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-11-25
THE DECEMBER MAGAZINES.
,,LIPfINuorr,s.o y

"Florida: How to TO and Where to Stay, by
j. p Little: "The Real Condition of the
South, " 10y Edward A. Pollard; "Chit-Chat
from Andalusia,' by Florence Mlrryat;
Irene" tale part III; To-day poem;
THE Geysers of California, by j. f. Man
ming; "Cacoethes Scribendi, and Wnat Came
of H." tale, by p. Thorne; Expansion
or Contraction by Hon. AmasaWalker; ''Sir
Harry Hotspur of Humblethwaite, novel,
part VII, by Anthony Trolope "a Vision OF
the Hour poem, by Lucy Hamilton
Hooper; 'Our Monthly Gossip. .-Parisiana-
The late L. NJ. Gottschalk-A Letter from
Ouida, etc; Literature of the Day.-Coxs
Mythology of the Aryan Nations-Life and
Times OF David zeisberger, etc.
From "Florida How to Go and Where to
Stay by J. p. Little, we take this account
of the Florida BIRDS
Most persons imagine Florida to be really
a howery land, and that the whole country
blooms with beauty and resounds with song.
The description will apply only to spots;
there is much of gloomy desolation, many
swamps, many large sandy tracts covered
with pine forests, many regions burdened
with the most intolerable brushwood. And
yet flowers do grow abundantly, and with the
slightest care can be cultivated to the fullest
luxuriance. Nowhere will labor be so we'll
rewarded, and nowhere can SO much beauty
be created if man will toll. When Adam
that he gave names to all the animals, but
am sure that it was Eve who named the birds
and flowers. Every class of both can be
found in Florida, and some are peculiar to
the soil and climate.
You have, of course, the wild fowlin abund-
ance-ducks and geese, swans and cranes,
sea-guls and gannets- sufficient in some
places and at certain times to hide or at least
cloud the sun. You have the wild turkey in
plenty, and also that other turkey which
proved too much for Prince Achille Murat,
who was q first-rate cook as we'll as a good
hunter, and boasted that he had cooked and
eaten, ana that he liked, every kind of bird
except one:-''Zat was de turkey y-boozard.
/ have tried him cook every way, and do
not like him, no matter how he is cook"
The paroquet is found in focks, and some
times in cages 1t is beautiful bird when
seen dashing about among the green leaves
and bright blossoms, with its brilliant plum
age glistening in the sun; and it is also very
good in pie. But from its music may we
be delivered; it sounds worse than young
beginner practicing Italian operas on an un-
tuned piano. cageful of paroquets is
comical sight; they are perpetually quarrel
ing, cursing and swearing at great rate,
then making up in the most atfecCionate
manner, and then commencing to quarrel
again. The only way to keep them quiet is
to cook them.
met party of Germans regularly engaged
in trapping them: they we're shipped to Eu-
rope to exchange for canaries.
Mocking birds are abundant and trouble
some in summer. They are very fond of
grapes, always taking their wna in
pills, and there is in and about st.
Augustine quite an extensive grape
culture, which renders it a very
popular place in the season of ripening.
Many invalids go there to use the grape-cure
for consumption or dyspepsia during that
season, and the mocking- birds are formidable
rivals to the invaids. Probably they employ
the grapes as a preventive. All the thin
skinned, delicate kinds are great favorites of
theirs, and it is precisely these kinds that are
most cultivated. The birds disapprove Of
the Scuppernong, and discourage its cultiva-
tion, because the skin is so tough that
they cannot penetrate it, and the people
accommodate themselves to the fancy of the
birds. However, they demonstrate by shoot
ing them: and one old fellew with no music
in his soul informed me that he had killed
nearly three hundred of these singing nuis-
ances the preceding summer. OF course the
birds try to pay for their grapes by music,
but this kind of coin is not considered cur
rent in ST. Augustine, and such notes as they
make are deemed worse than counterfeit
among the grape-growers. The bird is, how
ever, considered rather dissi-
example to the young people. I have
always thought that a young man who
can sing well is in great danger of falling into
bad company, and is likely to acquire wild
habits; and this bird is case in point. He
forages about, singing in his neighbor's vine
yard while he robs him, until the berries of
the Pride-of- China tree are ripe, and then he
proceeds to have regular frolic, acquires a
habit of intoxication and gets as drunk
as lord. 1t is curious to see a
flock of these birds at this time. They
become perfectly tipsy, and fly
round in the most comical manner, hic-
coughing and staggering just like men, mix
ing up all sorts of songs, and interrupting
each other in the most impudent manner,
without any regard to the pollteness and de-
all we'll society, whether of birds OF
men. They will fly about promiscuously, in.
trude on domestic relations, forget the way
home, and get into each others nests and
families, Just like the lords of creation
After the berries are all gone and the
yearly frolic is over, they look very penitent
make many good resolutions, join the tenn
perance society, and never indulge again
until the next season comes round and thC
berries are ripe once more
1 do not think that naturalists have noticed
this popularity, ard have the honor of call
ing their attention to my interesting eontri
button to natural history. 1 believe
that this habit is peculiar t.
birds that sing, just as wine and sons
60 together among men. 1t is only
another proof that wine is mocker. Pro
badly the great power of this songster wa
clever bird found out the secret of song bl
oattinn honzv on haPFiao and