1 66 SPRING AT THE CAPITAL. 



The cardinal grossbeak, or Virginia red-bird, is quite 

 common in the same localities, though more inclined 

 to seek the woods. It is much sought after by bird- 

 fanciers, and by boy gunners, and consequently is very 

 shy. This bird suggests a British red-coat ; his heavy, 

 pointed beak, his high cockade, the black stripe down 

 his face, the expression of weight and massiveness 

 about his head and neck, and his erect attitude, give 

 him a decided soldierlike appearance ; and there is 

 something of the tone of the fife in his song or whistle, 

 while his ordinary note, when disturbed, is like the 

 clink of a sabre. Yesterday, as I sat indolently swing- 

 ing in the loop of a grape-vine, beneath a thick canopy 

 of green branches, in a secluded nook by a spring run, 

 one of these birds came pursuing some kind of insect, 

 but a. few feet above me. He hopped about, now and 

 then uttering his sharp note, till, some moth or beetle 

 trying to escape, he broke down through the cover 

 almost where I sat. The effect was like a firebrand 

 coming down through the branches. Instantly catch- 

 ing sight of me, he darted away much alarmed. The 

 female is tinged with brown, and shows but little red 

 except when she takes flight. 



By far the most abundant species of woodpecker 

 about Washington is the red-headed. It is more com- 

 mon than the robin. Not in the deep woods, but 

 among the scattered dilapidated oaks and groves, on 

 the hills and in the fields, I hear, almost every day, 

 his uncanny note, ktr-rr, kir-r-r, like that of some lar- 



