202 SPRING AT THE CAPITAL. 



By far the most abundant species of wood- 

 pecker about Washington is the red-headed. 

 It is more common than the robin. Not in 

 the deep woods, but among the scattered, di- 

 lapidated oaks and groves, on the hills and 

 in the fields, I hear, almost every day, his un- 

 canny note, ktr-rr, ktr-r-r, like that of some 

 larger tree-toad, proceeding from an oak 

 grove just beyond the boundary. He is a 

 strong scented fellow and very tough. Yet 

 how beautiful, as he flits about the open 

 woods, connecting the trees by a gentle arc of 

 crimson and white ! This is another bird 

 with a military look. His deliberate, digni- 

 fied ways, and his bright uniform of red, 

 white, and steel-blue, bespeak him an officer 

 of rank. 



Another favorite beat of mine is north- 

 east of the city. Looking from the Capitol 

 in this direction, scarcely more than a mile 

 distant, you see a broad green hill-slope, fall- 

 ing very gently, and spreading into a large 

 expanse of meadow-land. The summit, if 

 so gentle a swell of greensward may be said 

 to have a summit, is covered with a grove of 

 large oaks ; and, sweeping back out of sight 

 like a mantle, the front line of a thick for- 

 est bounds the sides. This emerald land- 



