SPRING AT THE CAPITAL 135 



A glimpse of the birds usually found here in the 

 latter part of winter may be had in the following 

 extract, which I take from my diary under date of 

 February 4th: 



" Made a long excursion through the woods and 

 over the hills. Went directly north from the Capi- 

 tol for about three miles. The ground bare and 

 the day cold and sharp. In the suburbs, among 

 the scattered Irish and negro shanties, came sud- 

 denly upon a flock of birds, feeding about like our 

 northern snow buntings. Every now and then they 

 uttered a piping, disconsolate note, as if they had a 

 very sorry time of it. They proved to be shore 

 larks, the first I had ever seen. They had the 

 walk characteristic of all larks; were a little larger 

 than the sparrow; had a black spot on the breast, 

 with much white on the under parts of their bodies. 

 As I approached them the nearer ones paused, and, 

 half squatting, eyed me suspiciously. Presently, 

 at a movement of my arm, away they went, flying 

 exactly like the snow bunting, and showing nearly 

 as much white." (I have since discovered that the 

 shore lark is a regular visitant here in February and 

 March, when large quantities of them are shot or 

 trapped, and exposed for sale in the market. Dur- 

 ing a heavy snow I have seen numbers of them 

 feeding upon the seeds of various weedy growths in 

 a large market-garden well into town.) "Pressing 

 on, the walk became exhilarating. Followed a little 

 brook, the eastern branch of the Tiber, lined with 

 bushes and a rank growth of green-brier. Sparrows 



