SPRING AT THE CAPITAL. 155 



SQzzard started. I thought the tree-tops were com- 

 iiig down upon me, so great was the uproar. But 

 the woods were soon cleared, and the loathsome pack 

 disappeared in the night. 



About the first of June I saw numbers of buz- 

 zards sailing around over the great Falls of the Po- 

 tomac. 



A glimpse of the bir(\s usually found here in the 

 latter part of winter may be had in the following ex- 

 tract, which I take from my diary under date of Feb- 

 raary 4th : — 



" Made a long excursion through the woods and 

 over the hills. Went directly north from the Capi- 

 tol for about three miles. The ground bare and the 

 day cold and sharp. In the suburbs, among the 

 scattered Irish and negro shanties, came suddenly 

 upon a flock of birds, feeding about like our North- 

 ern snow-buntings. Every now and then they ut- 

 tered a piping disconsolate note, as if they had a very 

 Borry time of it. They proved to be shore-larks, the 

 first I had ever seen. They had the walk character- 

 istic of all larks ; were a little larger than the spar- 

 row; had a black spot on the breast, with much 

 white on the under parts of their bodies. As I ap- 

 proached them the nearer ones paused, and, half 

 Bquatting, eyed me suspiciously. Presently, at a 

 movement of my arm, away they went, flying exactly 

 Uke the snow-bunting, and showing nearly as much 

 white." (I have since discovered that the shore-lark 

 M a regular visitant here in February and March 



