BIRDS AND BATTLEFIELDS. 183 



allowed me to approach them closely, and as I 

 sat in the shadow of a small tree, one of them 

 poured forth his (quivering, swinging lays — a 

 sort of votive incense to old memories. In a 

 country where the song sparrow, so abundant 

 and tuneful in the North, is not seen or heard 

 — at least not in the spring — it is well to have 

 his place supplied by this plainly clad but sil- 

 very voiced little triller. 



II. 



A few hours were spent in the National 

 Cemetery, where thirteen thousand soldiers lie 

 buried. It is a beautiful place, with its green, 

 closely mown lawns, white headstones on the 

 slopes, and many shade trees. A list of all the 

 birds I found in this " city of the dead " may 

 be of some interest : Orchard orioles, Baltimore 

 orioles, summer warblers, red-eyed vireos, wood 

 pewees, purple grackles, warbling vireos, chip- 

 ping sparrows, English sparrows (those samples 

 of ubiquity), brown thrashers, redstarts, Mary- 

 land yellowthroats, creeping warblers, cardinal 

 grossbeaks, cuckoos, and blue-gray gnatcatchers. 

 It was the 9th of May when these species were 

 seen. No doubt many more, the year round, 

 find this burial s23ot a safe retreat from their 

 foes, for here no shooting of any kind would 



