SPRING AT THE CAPITAL 131 



silver poplars which line all the streets and ave- 

 nues. After a few mild, sunshiny March days, you 

 suddenly perceive a change has come over the trees. 

 Their tops have a less naked look. If the weather 

 continues warm, a single day will work wonders. 

 Presently the tree will be one vast plume of gray, 

 downy tassels, while not the least speck of green 

 foliage is visible. The first week in April these 

 long mimic caterpillars lie all about the streets and 

 fill the gutters. 



The approach of spring is also indicated by the 

 crows and buzzards, which rapidly multiply in the 

 environs of the city, and grow bold and demonstra- 

 tive. The crows are abundant here all winter, but 

 are not very noticeable except as they pass high in 

 air to and from their winter quarters in the Virginia 

 woods. Early in the morning, as soon as it is light 

 enough to discern them, there they are, streaming 

 eastward across the sky, now in loose, scattered 

 flocks, now in thick, dense masses, then singly and 

 in pairs or triplets, but all setting in one direction, 

 probably to the waters of Eastern Maryland. To- 

 ward night they begin to return, flying in the same 

 manner, and directing their course to the wooded 

 heights on the Potomac, west of the city. In 

 spring these diurnal mass movements cease; the 

 clan breaks up, the rookery is abandoned, and the 

 birds scatter broadcast over the land. This seems 

 to be the course everywhere pursued. One would 

 think that, when food was scarcest, the policy of 

 separating into small bands or pairs, and dispersing 



