SPRING AT THE CAPITAL. 149 



shine at last, though the wind roared like a lion over 

 the woods. It seemed novel enough to find within 

 two miles of the White House a simple woodsman 

 chopping away as if no President was being inaugu- 

 rated ! Some puppies, snugly nestled in the cavity of 

 an old hollow tree, he said, belonged to a wild dog. 

 I imagine I saw the 'wild dog,' on the other side of 

 Rock Creek, in a great state of grief and trepidation, 

 running up and down, crying and yelping, and looking 

 wistfully over the swollen flood, which the poor thing 

 had not the courage to brave. This day, for the first 

 time, I heard the song of the Canada sparrow, a soft, 

 sweet note, almost running into a warble. • Saw a 

 small, black, velvety butterfly with a yellow border to 

 its wings. Under a warm bank found two flowers of 

 the houstonia in bloom. Saw frogs' spawn near Piny 

 Branch, and heard the hyla." 



Among the first birds that make their appearance in 

 Washington is the crow-blackbird. He may come any 

 time after the 1st of March. The birds congregate in 

 large flocks, and frequent groves and parks, alternately 

 swarming in the tree-tops and filling the air with their 

 sharp jangle, and alighting on the ground in quest of 

 food, their polished coats glistening in the sun from 

 very blackness, as they walk about. There is evi- 

 dently some music in the soul of this bird at this sea- 

 son, though he makes a sad failure in getting it out. 

 His voice always sounds as if he were laboring under 

 a severe attack of influenza, though a large flock of 



