SPRING AT THE CAPITAL. 157 



A month later, March 4th, is this note : — 

 "After the second memorable inauguration of 

 President Lincoln, took my first trip of the season. 

 The afternoon was very clear and warm, — real ver- 

 nal sunshine at last, though the wind roared like a 

 lion over the woods. It seemed novel enough to find 

 within two miles of the White House a simple woods- 

 man chopping away as if no President was being in- 

 augurated ! Some puppies, snugly nestled in the 

 cavity of an old hollow tree, he said, belonged to a 

 wild dog. I imagine I saw the ' wild dog,' on the 

 other side of Kock Creek, in a great state of grief 

 and trepidation, running up and down, crying and 

 yelping, and looking wistfully over the swollen flood, 

 which the poor thing had not the courage to brave. 

 This day, for the first time, I heard the song of the 

 Canada sparrow, a soft, sweet note, almost running 

 into a warble. Saw a small, black, velvety butterfly 

 with a yellow border to its wings. Under a warm 

 bank found two flowers of the houstonia in bloom. 

 Saw frogs' spawn near Piny Branch, and heard the 

 hyla." 



Among the first birds that make their appearance 

 in Washington, is the crow-blackbird. He may come 

 any time after the 1st of March. The birds congre- 

 gate in large flocks, and frequent groves and parks, 

 alternately swarming in the tree-tops and filling the 

 air with their sharp jangle, and alighting on the 

 ground in quest of food, their polished coats glisten 

 ing vn the sun from very blackness, as they walk 



