SPRING AT THE CAPITAL. 197 



branches. But the Sylviadas, as a rule, are 

 all partial to thick, rank undergrowths. 



The Kentucky warbler is a large bird for 

 the genus, and quite notable in appearance. 

 His back is clear olive-green ; his throat and 

 breast, bright yellow. A still more promi- 

 nent feature is a black streak on the side of 

 the face, extending down the neck. 



Another familiar bird here, which I never 

 met with in the North, is the gnat-catcher, 

 called by Audubon the blue gray fly-catching 

 warbler. In form and manner it seems 

 almost a duplicate of the cat-bird, on a 

 small scale. It mews like a young kitten, 

 erects its tail, flirts, droops its wings, goes 

 through a variety of motions when disturbed 

 by your presence, and in many ways recalls 

 its dusky prototype. Its color above is a 

 light, gray blue, gradually fading till it be- 

 comes white on the breast and belly. It is a 

 very small bird, and has a long, facile, slender 

 tail. Its song is a lisping, chattering, inco- 

 herent warble, now faintly reminding one of 

 the goldfinch, now of a miniature cat-bird, 

 then of a tiny yellow-hammer, having much 

 variety, but no unity, and little cadence. 



Another bird which has interested me 

 here is the Louisiana water-thrush, called 



